(E,-%-'%.'%.^'«>'%.-*'« 



k'^-^'^Dll 



LIBRARY OF C0NGR1^:SS. 






^UNITED STATES OF AMKIIICA. 




'&(§> 



mmmttt 



^ 
^ 




PUBLISHED BY THE STATE. 



/ 



/ 



SEND lAST OF NAMKS '10 

GIRART HEWITT, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, 

By whom it will be mailed, free of charge, to each name sent him. 
FIRST EDITION. 



1869. 



NOTICE. 



This Pamphlet, published in Januaiy of each j'ear, (this being its third 
year) is designed to keep up with the progress of the State, and present 
its status to date. 

It is oftered for gratuitous circulation, and deposited with Girart 
Hewitt, St. Paul, who will mail it to each name sent him, and answer 
letters of inquiry as to this State. But persons had better come and see 
for themselves, the vjheat fields of Minnesota ! 

5^°" Before writing me, please see if this Pamphlet don't answer 
your inquiries. 

g^=" See list of Newspapers on last page, and then Rail Road, Boat 
and Stage Lines, that tell you how to get all over the State. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 18G9, by GIRART HEWITT, 

in the Clerli's Office of tlie District Court of tlie United States 

for tlie District of Minnesota. 



HEWITT'S 

ST. I^AXJL, jMIlVlVESOTA, 

(Established in 1856) 

Sells Farms, Farm Lands, Dwellings, and Business 

Property, Makes Investments, Loans and Collects 

Money, Examines Titles, Pays Taxes, &c. &c. 

(Correspondent for Capitalists.) 

GIRART HEWITT, 

Attorney at La^v. 



. MINNESOTA: 

ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 



1869. 



BEING A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF 

ITS HISTORY AND PR0GRKS3, CLIMATE, SOIL, AGRICULTURAL 

AND MANUFACTURING FACILITIES, COMMERCIAL 

CAPACITIES, AND SOCIAL STATUS ; 

ITS LAKES, KIVERS ANI3 RAILROADS; 
HOMESTEAD AND EXEMPTION LAWS; 

EMBRACING A CONCISE TREATISE ON ITS 

CLIMATOLOGY, IN A HYGIENIC AND SANITARY POINT 

OF VIEW ; 

ITS UNPAKALLELED SALUBRITY, GROWTH AND 
PRODUCTIVENESS, 

AS COMPAEED WITH THE OLDEli STATES ,* 
AND THE 

ELEMENTS OF ITS FUTURE GREATNESS AND PROSPERITY. 





JFOR ORATXJITOXJS CIRCUL ATI O JN. 

ORDER COPIES TO ANY ADDRESS, FROM 

GIRART HEWITT, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA. 
1869. 

'Va, .\.\.^.."W . 



STATEMENT. 



The pamphlet issued by me January, 1867, was received in such a way as tc 
call for a similar work for 1868. The flattering endorsements which the nine 
editions of those years received from the Press, the Legislature, the State 
Board of Immigration, and the public, seem to warrant an issue for 1869. If 
the pamphet of 1868 was an improvement upon that of 1867, I trust this will 
be found a still greater improvement upon its predecessors. The plan for its 
circulation has proved a success — a copy is sent to each name furnished me 
whether the person thinks of seeking a new home or not. If the pamphlet falls 
into the wrong hand at first, it finds its way to the right one at last. A resi- 
dence here of twelve years and an immense correspondence, embracing every 
State and Territory in our own and many foreign countries, satisfies me that the 
facts regarding Minnesota are not known in the world. 

While many of the general items of the last editions are preserved in this, it 
will be found enlarged and improved in many respects, and brings us down to 
January, 1839. 

I have tried to avoid exaggeration, aiming to faithfully and impartially repre- 
sent the whole State. It is not designed to persuade persons to come here who 
are doing well enough where they are, but to give those seeking new komes re- 
liable information as to this young, attractive and progressive State. 

Upon the important question of health, I have given the able treatise of Dr. 
T. Williams, and added the opinion of Dr. D. W. Hand, of St Paul. 

Coming here over twelve years ago, an invalid, myself a beneficiary of this 
climate, I have studied this question with interest, and can say that each year has 
served to confirm me in the opinion that Minnesota is unsurpassed for health. 

GIRART HEWITT. 

St. Paul, January, 1869. 



.V 



^%^ 



MIISTN^ESOT^: 
ITS ADYANTAGE'S TO SETTLERS 



GEOGRAPHICAL. 

The State of Minnesota is one of the youngest in the united sisterhood of 
States. It was admitted into the Union in May, 1858, being the thirty-second 
State admitted into the Union. It derives its name from two Indiaia words, 
" Minne " and " Sotah," " sky-tinted water," in reference to its numerous and 
beautiful streams and lakes which from their crystal purity reflect the clear, steel- 
blue skies. The State lies between 43° 30' and 49° north latitude, and 91° 
and 97° 5' west longitude. It is bounded on the north by the British Posseg- 
sions ; on the south by the State of Iowa ; east by AVisconsin and Lake Supe- 
rior, and west by Dakota Territory. Its estimated area is 84,000 square miles, 
or about .54,000,000 acres, thus making it one of the largest States in the Union, 
being nearly equal to the combined areas of the large and populous States of 
Ohio and Pennsylvania, and embracing a larger extent of territory than the 
whole of New England, capable of eventually sustaining a population equal to 
that of England. 

Advantnsreous Geographical Position. — The geographical position of Min- 
nesota is the most favored on the continent. Its location is central between 
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Hudson's Bay on the north, and the Gulf of 
Mexico on the south. It is also midway between the arable limits of the con- 
tinent, where the products of agriculture attain their most perfect development 
Generally speaking, the valleys of the JVf ississippi, St. Lawrence and Red River 
raay be said to rise in the form of a huge convex mass, which culminates in the 
sand dunes or drift hills in the northern part of Minnesota, where those three 
great rivers take their rise and flow north, south and northeast. Minnesota is thus 
the actual summit of the continent, and the pinnacle of the watershed of North 
America. In reference to this fact, the Hon. Wm. H. Seward, in a speech 
delivered at St. Paul in 1860, says, " Here spring up almost side by side, so 
that they may kiss each other, the two great rivers of the continent," the 
Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, rising almost within a stone's throw of each 
other, and running in opposite directions, — the one half way to Piurope, the 
other bearing our commerce to the Gulf of Mexico, gathering the products of 
the cotton plantations of the South and bringing them to the vast water powers 
of the Upper Mississippi. 

The arable area of the vast territory northwest of us — bounded on the north 
by the line of arctic temperature, and south by the arid sandy plains — is pro- 
jected through the valley of the Saskatchewan to the Pacific border ; " grimly 
guarded by t'.ie Itasca summit of the Mississippi, 1680 feet high on the east, 
and the Missouri coteau, 2000 feet high on the west," it forms " the only avenue of 
coTnmercial communication between the east and west coasts, the only possible 
route of a Pacific railway, and the only theater now remaining for the formation 
of new settlements." Lying exactly across the commercial isthmus thus hemmed 
in, and which is the only outlet of this vast region to the Eastern and Southern 
States, Minnesota is the gateway between the eastern and western sides of the 
coBtinent. " Through this one pass," says Mr. Wheelock, " between the con- 



4 MINNESOTA : 

tineutal deserts of sand and ice, must fiow the great exodus now dasliing itself in 
vain against tlieir shores, as tlie tiibes of Asia flowed into Europe through tlie 
passes of the Caucasus. Every advancing wave of jjopulation lifts higher and 
higher this gathering Hood of Americau life, which, the moment that it begins 
to ])ress upon the means of subsistence, must pour all its vast tide through 
this narrow channel into the inland basins of the Northwest — till the Atlantic 
and Pacific are united in a living chain of populous States." 

This commanding physical position of iMiuuesotu gives it the key and control 
of the outlet of the great mass of the connnerce of the immense and produc- 
tive regions of the western and uorthwesten> portions of the continent — regions as 
yet almost a wilderness, but whose incalculably large exports and imports, fol- 
lowing the inexorable laws of connnerce, nuist find their highway through our 
State, when at no distant day those largo and feitik^ districts north and west 
of us swarm with the industry of empires, and pour their wealth into our 
coffers, giving us a significance second to none in the world. Not only that, 
but, instead of passing by us and going two thousand miles east to trade, the 
workshops and factories which even now are opening up so rapidly on our wa- 
ter-powers will supply them and enrich us ; thus makinj;- this vast region tributary 
to us as surely as the West ever has heretofore been tributary to the East. Notic- 
insr tliis fact, in the sj)eech already alluded to, Mr. Seward says, " H ere is the i)lace, 
the t-entral place, where the agriculture of the richest region of North America 
must pour out its tributes to the whole world. On the east, all along the shore 
of Lake Supeiior, and west, stretching in one broad plain, in a belt quite across 
the continent, is a country where State aiii'v State is yet to ai'ise, and where the 
productions for the support of human society in the old, crowded States must 
be brought forth." 'J'hen follows the remarkable and far-seeing views of this 
great statesman and politician, that Minnesota is yet to exercise a powerful 
influence in the political destinies of this continent. " Power is not to reside 
permanently on the eastern slope of the Alleghany mountains, nor in the seaports. 
Sea[)orts have always been ovtjrrun and controlled by the people of the interior, 
and the power that shall connnunicate and express the will of men on this conti- 
nent is to be located in the Mississippi Valley, and at the sources of the Missis- 
sippi and St. Lawrence." Ah Seward only expresses the fact, taught by the 
whole past history of the whole world, that em])iie tra^els westward, when he 
asserts, "1 now believe that the ultimate, last seat of government on this great 
continent will be found somewheie within a circle or radius not very far from the 
spot on which I stand, at the head of navigation on the Mississippi Kiver." 

The future destiny of .Minnesota thereibre is to be a glorious one. and fortu- 
nate the descendants of those who may now obtain an interest and t\)othold 
within her borders We will proceed to speak more sp(?cially of the true ele- 
ments of this future greatness and prosjjei'ity, as already indicated by the 
unerring logic of facts and unparalleled growth. 

HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

Minnesota is what was once the " land of the Dakota?," who inhabited it long 
before their existence was known to white men. Their chief council chamber 
was ill Carver's Cave, near where the present capital of the State now stands. 

The honor of discovering Minnesota is divided between Louis Heimepin, a 
Franciscan priest, and UaLnth, a French explorer. Hennepin was sent out in 
the spring of IGiO to explore the Upper Mississippi in comj)any with two 
traders ; he was captured l)y the ludians ami carried to the pre.-.ent site of St, 
Paid. On his return in June, he met DuLuth and a party of exnlorei-s. He 
claims to have discovered the Falls of the Mississippi, and bestowed upon them 
the name of St. Anthony in honor of his patron saint. 

In 16-^9, Perrot, ;icconipanied by LeSueur and others, took formal possession 
of the country embracing Minnesota, in the name of France, and established a 
fort on the west shore of Lalce Pepin. Although discovered upwards of two 
hundred years ago, the settlement of Minnesota did not conmieuce until about 
twenty years ago, with the exception of a few scattering pioneer hunters, traders 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 5 

and missionaries, wLo took up tbeir abode in it iit ii much oailior date. During 
the lapse of two centuries the vast northwest, embracing tlie best lands and 
climate on the continent, remained a wilderness, while the Atlantic and AVestera 
States were being settled. Very vague and erroneous notions prevailed in 
regard to this region, which was jiopularly supposed to be too cold an<l inhos- 
pitable for agiiculiural pursuits. Hut this ?'egi. n reproduces the west and north 
of Europe, containing tin* most powerful and enlightened nations on the globe, 
with the exceptions caused by vertical configuration only, and gi^es an innnense 
and yet unmeasured capacity for occupation and expansion, containing an area 
above the fortv-third parallel, p<Mfeclly adapted to the fullest occupation by 
cultivated nations, not inferior to the whole of the United States east of the 
Mississippi. 

This region, extending to the Pacific, and of which Minnesota is the "garden 
spot," is yet destined to supersede in wealth and agricultural and manufacturing 
importance the older part of the United States, lying on the Atlantic coast and 
east of the Mississippi, and to become the seat of empire on the American 
continent. 

" 'The parallel in regard to the advancement of American States here may be 
drawn with the peri')d of the earliest trans- Alpine lioman expansion, when Gaul, 
Scandinavia, and Britain were regarded as inho-pitable regions, fit only for 
barbarian occupation. The enlightened nations then occupied the latitudes near 
the Mediterranean, and the richer northern and western countries were unopened 
and unknown."* 

In the year 1G05, the second post in Minnesota was established by LeSueur ; 
and in October, 1700, he explored the Minnesota and Blue Karth rivers and 
established another post on the latter. From this period up to 1746, the history 
of Minnesota is nothing more than the history of the adventures of LeSueur 
and the traders among the Indians, and the wars of the latter among themselves, 
and is full of wild and rumantic incidents. At this time Frar.ce and England 
were involved in a war which extended to their colonies in the New AVorld, and 
t'\e Fnnch enlisted many savages of the Upper Mississipj.'i on their side. 

On the 8th of September, 17G0, the French delivered up their posts in Canada 
to the English. By a treaty made at Versailles in 1763, France ceded the 
territory comprised Avithin the Tmits of Minnesota and Wisconsin to England. 
But for a long time the I'lnulish got no foothold in their newly actpiired territory, 
owing to the greater popularity of the French, many of whom had m irried 
Indian wives. lint little was known of the country previous to 17(i6, when 
Jonathan ( 'arver of Connecticut exjilored it, and afterwards went to England ae.d 
wrote a book of his adventures. Even at this early day, though over a thousand 
miles intervened between the Falls of St. Anthony and any white .settlement, the 
explorer was impressed with the beauty and fertility of the cointry. and spoke 
of the commercial facilities its future inhabitants would enjoy viii the Mississippi 
and the northern chain of lakes. Carver's Cave at St. Paul, in which several 
bands of Indians held an annual grand council— making it the capital of the 
State a hundred years ago — was nann^d after him 

After the peace between the United States and England in 1783, England 
ceded her ,aim to the twrritorv south of the British Pos.sessions to the 
United Stai<es. December 20. IsOo. the province of Loui.-iiana, embracing that 
portion of Minne.sota west of the Mississippi, was ceded to the United States by 
France, who on the first of the same month had received it from Spain ; the 
latter o'ljected to the transfer, bat withdrew her opposition in 1804. In 18('5, 
(ien. Zebnlon M. I'ike explored this region of country. an<l his reports, and 
those of Long, Fremont, I'ope, Marcy, Stansl^erry. and other militiiiy oihcers 
exerted a lar^e iidluence in first attracting attention to 'viitinesota as a field for 
settlement. He obtained a grant of land fiom the Sioux Indians on which Fort 
Snelling, five miles above St. Paul, was built in iS'io, 

The ?]nglish tiailers still lingered in .Minnesota after its cession to the United 
Stf.t-PS. and ineitod by Ih em airainst the Americans, the Indi-nis became trouble- 

*" BIodget'8 Climatology of the United States," page 526. 



6 MINNESOTA : 

some, and during the war of 1812 generally took sides with the English, After 
the peace of 1815 they acknowledged the authority of the United States, but 
the Ojibways and Dakotas (or Siouxs) being hereditary enemies continued to 
war among themselves. In 1812 a small settlement was formed in the Red 
River country, composed principally of Scotchmen, under the auspices of Lord 
Selkirk. They were greatly persecuted by the Hudson Bay Company, who 
claimed the sole right of hunting and trading for furs in the northwest. In 1821, 
" after yeais of bloodshed, heart-burnings, fruitless litigation, and vast expense, 
the strife was cOLcluded by a comi^romise between the two companies." In 
1822, the first mill in Minnesota was erected where Minneapolis now staude. 
In 1823, the first sttamboat that ever ascended the Mississippi above Rock 
Island, arrived at Fort Suelling to the great astonishment of the natives. 

In 1820, Missouri was admitted into the Union as a State, leaving the territory 
north of it, including Iowa and all of Minnesota west of the river, without any 
organized government. In 1834, it was attached to Michigan for judicial pm^ 
poses. In 1836, Nicollet arrived in Minnesota and spent some time in exploring 
the sources of the Mississippi. 

In 1837, the pine forests of the valley of the St. Croix and its tributaries were 
ceded to the United States by the Ojibways ; and the same year the Dakotas 
ceded all their lands east of the Mississippi. These treaties were ratified June 
15, 1838. 

One of the earliest settlers in St. Paul, the present capital of the State, was 
named Phalon. Other families from the Red River settlement settling there. 
Father Gaultier, a Catholic missionary, built a log chapel, "blessed the new 
basilica," and dedicated it to St. Raul, which thus came to be the name- of the 
city, which previous to that time had been called " Pigs eye." In 1848 St. 
Paul was a small settlement, and contained only 840 inhabitants in 1849 ; Its 
present population is 20,108. 

In 1843, the settlement of Stillwater, on the St. Croix, 18 miles from St. Paul, 
was commenced. 

Territorial Organization. — On the 3d of March, 1849, the Territory of 
Minnesota was organized, its boundaries including the present I'erritory of 
Dakota, and St. Paul designated as the cajjital. April 28th the first newspaper 
was issued in the new capital. Alexander Ramsey was appointed Governor, 
and arrived with his family the latter part of May. On the first of June he 
proclaimed the Territorial government organized. "J'ke Territory contained 
4,680 inhabitants at this time. 

After the organization of the Territory, immigration flowed in rapidlj', and 
both St. Paul and country were settled very fast. On the 1st of August, 1849, 
the first delegate (H. II. Sibley) was elected to Congress, and on the 3d af 
September the first Legislative Assembly met and created nine counties. In 
1850 small steamboats commenced to run on the Minnesota river. 

In 1851 an important treaty was efi'ected with the Dakotas, by which their 
title to the west side of the Mississippi and the valley of the M-unesota river 
was extinguished, and this vast tract open to settlement. At a ve, y early day 
Minnesota took the subject of coumion schools in hand, and the first report of 
a Superintendent of Public Instruction was p'esented to the third Legislative 
Assembly, which met in January, 1852. 

From this time forward immigration flowed into Minnesota at high tide, and 
the State tilled up with unprecedented rapidity. Villages and towns sprang up 
as if by magic. Laud speculation ran high, and during the period of the greatest 
inflation of prices, the financial crash of 18.J7 fell like a thuaderbolt. Great 
distress and stagnation of business was the direct result, and for a year or two 
the rapid growth of the State was arrested. But the remoter con^e4ueuces of 
the crash were pernmuently beneficial to the State. Towns had sprung up like 
mushrooms without sufficient tributary agricultural districts to support them. 
Rent and living were ruinously high. After the crash, the speculator's occupa- 
tion was gone ; the energies of the inhabitants were directed to manufactures 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 7 

and agriculture— the basis of all true Stato or National prosperity. Previous 
to that era, breadstufls had beeu imported; iu 1854 the number of plowed acres 
in the State was only 15,000 ; iu 1«60, there were 433,276, and in 1866, 1,000,- 
OoO, and iu 1867, over 1,200,000, 1808, 1,400,000. Minnesota was suddenly 
developed as one of the finest grain growing States in the Union, and in 1865 
exported upwards of 8,000,000 bushels of wheat, iu 186G over 10,000^,000 
bushels, and in 1867 the aggregate yield was as much, and in 1868 over 1,700,- 
000.- 

Admitted into the Union. — The State Constitution was framed by a convention 
'elected for that jjurpose, which assembled at St. Paul in July, 1857, and it was 
voted upon and adopted the ensuing October. The State w'as admitted into 
the Union in May, 1858, the State government organized, and lion. H. M. 
Kice and Gen. Jas. shields elected to the U. S. Senate. In 1861, when the re- 
bellion broke out, our State promptly responded to all the calls made on her for 
men and money, though at a greater detriment to her growth and prosperity, 
perhaps, than that of any other State. Being a new State, she had no surplus 
population, and her quotas were talien from her grain fields, workshops and pine- 
ries, With a population of about 175,000 at the beginning of the war, she fur- 
nished about 24,0U0 men to the Union armiei. Few States have such a record. 
The Indian Massacre.— In August, 1862, one of the most fiendish and wide- 
spread massacres recorded in American history took place upon the western 
frontier of Minnesota by the Dakota or Sioux Indiana. A large military force, 
commanded by Gen. Sibley, was at once sent out. which soon laid waste the 
whole Indian country belonging to these tribes, killed " Little Crow," iheir leader, 
and uttery routed and subdued their braves. A large number were captured ; 
some of them tried and sentenced to death— of these 38 were hung, and the 
others with their entire tribes, were, under the order of the General Government, 
sent clean out of the country to a reservation beyond the Missouri river. 

Remarkable Progress of the State.— It will thus be seen that Minnesota has 
had extraordinary obstacles to overcome. The financial panic of 1857, the 
rebeUion of 1861, and Indian war of 1862, have undoubtedly greatly retarded 
her growth ; yet, notwithstanding those drawbacks, she has grown more rapidly 
than any State in the Union. Her percentage of increase from I860 to 1865 
was 45^ per cent., while that of Wisconsin was only 12, Illinois 27, Iowa 11, 
Michigan 7 J. All danger from Indians has long since vanished ; perfect secui-i- 
ty reigns, and homes in the most remote parts of the State are as secure as those 
of Xew-Eugiand. In 1865 the population of the State was 250,000, and_ at the 
close of 1868, 460,000. Gov. .Marshall in his aLn.ial message gives it at 445^,0 JO. 

Government. — The State government is very similar to that of the other Western 
States. The constitution se.;ures civil and religious rights to all ; a citizen of 
the United States 21 years of age who has been iu the State four mouths can 
vote— if of foreign birth he must have resided in the United States one year, 
and in Minnesota four months, and have declared his intention to become a :iti' 
^en of the United States. Impartial suS"rage is now the law of this State. 

EXEMPTION LAWS OF MINNESOTA. 
Humane and Just Provisions. — Too much credit cannot be accorded the men 
of our Legislature for the wise and liberal provisions of our State Ilomestead 
and Exemption Law. When we recall for a moment the statutes of the older 
States in that barbarous age when an Exemption Law " of one hundred dollars' 
and " imprisonment for debt " disgraced their law-books, and contemplate the 
succession of revulsions that we have seen sweeping over the land, prostrating 
the business and business men, the energetic, progressive, live men of our country 
almost in a night, themselves, and those dependent on ihem, involved in one com- 
mon ruin, say whether I too much honor those men whose legislation comes 
up to the spirit of the age in which we live, who have placed upon the statutes 
of Minnesota a Homestead and Exemption Law more liberal than that of any 
other State! 



8 MINNESOTA : 

I quote from the statutes of 1866, page 498 : 

"That a homestead cousisting of any quantity of land cot exceeding eighty 
acres and the dwelling hoii-e tliereon and its appurtenances, to be selected by- 
the owner thereof, and not included in any incorporated town, city or village, or 
instead thereof, at the option of the owner, a quantity of laud not exceeding ia 
ar.ouut one lot, being within an incorporated town, city or village, and the 
dwellinghouse thereon and its appurtenances, owned and occupied by any resident 
of this State, shall not be subject to attachment, levy or sale, upon any execu- 
tion or any other process issuing out of any court within this State." 

Thus it will be seen that we have no limitation as to the value of the farm or 
residence thus secured to the family. It may be worth oue thousand or ten 
thousand dollars. Whatever it is, it remains the shelter, the castle, the home of 
the family, to cluster around its hearthstone in the hour of gloom and disaster, as 
securely as they were wont to do in the suiishine of prosperity. 

While there may be tliose who prefer an exemption by value rather than area, 
and urge that one so liberal as ours can be taken advantage of by knaves, it 
must be remembered that no general law can be framed for the protection of the 
helpless and unfortunate, that will not be sometimes taken advantage of by 
others. We think it may be safely asserted that an exemption law such as ours, 
is found a blessing to thousands of worthy men, women and children for every 
one unworthily shielded by its provisions 

Personal Property Exempted. — In addition to the home, there is also ex- 
empted a proportionately liberal amount of personal property, consisting of 
household furniture, library, horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, wagons, farming utensils, 
provisions, fuel, grain, &c., &c., and all the tools and instruments of any mechan- 
ic, and four hundred dollars' worth of stock in trade ; also the library and im- 
plements of any professional man. See State laws, page 489. 

UNITED STATES HOMESTEAD LAW. 

Large numbers are availing themselves of the liberal Homestead Law passed 
by Congress, and now in force. Minnesota possesses the only domain attractive 
to this class of settlers— having nearly forty million acres of public land yet 
open to entry and settbment. This law provides that each settler, in five years' 
occupation, becomes the owner of" 160 acres by paying the sum of ten dollars 
and the fees of the land officer, provided he be a citizen of the United States or 
has declared his intention to become such;" and it further provides that " no 
land acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event become liable 
to the satisfaction of any debts contracted prior to the issuance of the patent 
therefor." In view of the immense quantity of "broad a'-res " thus offered with- 
out cost, situated as they are all over this new State, in districts well watered 
and timbered, where the mails and express are now extended, and railroads and 
telegraphs rapidly pushing their way, it is not .surprising that thousands are 
coming into .Minnesota annually to seture good farms for themselves and their 
families — farms that will, in a few .short years, be in the midst of cultivated 
neighborhoods, with churches and scliool-hoases arisi;ig at every hand, amid all 
the surroundings of civilization and progress. 

LAXD OFFICES. 

The land offices for the several land districts of Minnesota are located at the 
following ])laces : — St. Peter, Xicollet County ; (ireenleaf. Meeker County ; 
Winnebago City, Faribault County ; St. Cloud, Stearns County ; 'I'aylor's Falls, 
Chisago County ; Huluth, St. l.ouis County ; Alexnndria, Douglass County. 
Pel sons desiring information as to Government Lands can address the •' Regis- 
ter and Receiver ' at the above Land Offices. 

DEMAND FOR LABOR JN THE WEST. 

It is said a youn<5 man recently wrote Mr. G'ecl'y of tlie " Tribune," to obt'in a sitna- 
tion, and lie rejili d tlia; " Xew Vork is just rntering upon ttie interesting proci ss of .starving 
out '.200,1)00 peojil" wliom war and its consequences lias driven liiilier. It is imposbible to 
empl'jy more until these are goa'^;." 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 9 

The journals of Easitorn cities are annually filled with complaintr; tluit there is 
a surplus of laborers and operatives in the East seekiufr work ; that the com- 
petition for employment is often such that workmen are willinir to acc(!])t wages 
tar below what is just to them anil their families; that the offices of European 
Consuls are beset with foreigners who have exhausted tlieir means seeking em- 
ployment in the crowded Eastern cities. 'I'his does not and will not in a hundred 
years apply to the great West. liabor of all kinds, especially farm lal)or, must 
of necessity continue in demand here. Indeed one can scarcely ima'^ine a con- 
dition of things in the West that will make it otherwise, [jaborers and working 
jBien in almost every branch of industry are generally in scant supply and great 
demand throughout the West. Those lingering around the crowded seaports of 
the East with no hope beyond a mere subsistence, their families growing up in 
poverty and vice, having no chance with oth a-s in the world should turn their 
attention to the great West, where a free homestead, rich lanrls, (Mlucation for 
their children, and a healthy climate invites them. Our pineries alone, give em- 
ployment to over 3,000 men, to say nothing of other branches of the lumber 
interest, and our numerous railroads now under construction. 

WESTETIN^ PEOPLE. 

The citizens of a young State, with " room and verge enough," are naturally 
anxious to grow in numbers. All are interested in this ; hence a welcome hand. 
is extended to all who come, and laws are passed, as I hare elsewhere said, se- 
curing them liberal terms of citize iship. Indeed, the word liberal apj)lies to 
Minne.-:ota and her people with more propriety than any I have ever known. 
1 say this because it is true, and not in disparagement of others. It is owing, 
in some measure, to the fact that the nipu who take up their march with the star of 
empire on its westward way, ai'e either the bold, live men of the older .States, or 
their hearts and mindsexpanl as they traverse Vxq broad prairies of the fresh 
and glorious West. To another cause, can we, to some extent, ascribe much 
that is liberal and agreeable in the West, and different from tiie older States. 
Here we have every mition and people repr(>sented ; they come from the Xorth 
and the South, the East and the West. People of the old world meet here, 
mingle and marry with the people of the new. The result is an improvement; 
a stock is raised mentally ami phy.sically mire vigorous than in older loc dities, 
where they have married and intermarried until " every one is cousin ; " deteri- 
oration the consequence, narrow and intolerant scutinT^nts the rule. The differ- 
ence in these respects is ob.-erved by all who have lived long in the West, and 
then returned to the old localities- whence tliey came. Hence it is that few who 
have ever lived in the West, are content to again reside in the East 

PHYSICAL CHAKACTEUrSTICS OF THE STATE. 

Physical Districts. — The physi(;al characteristics of a country exert an im- 
portant influence on its inhabitants. "Grand scenery, leaping waters, and a 
bracing atmosphere," — says Neill in his History of Minnesota, — " produce mea 
of difftM-ent cast from those Avho dwell where the land is on a dead level, and 
where the streams are all sluggards. We associate heroes like Tell and liruc& 
with the mountains of Ssvitzerland and the highlands of Scotland." .Mthongh 
Minnesota is not a mountainous country by any means, its seneral elevation gives 
it all the advantages ot* one, without its olijectionable features. Being equi- 
distant from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, situated on an elevated plateau, 
and with a system of lakes and rivers ample for an empire, it has a pi^culiar 
climate of its own, possessed by no other Stite. 

'i'he general surface of the greater part of the State is even and undulating, 
and plea.santly diversified with rolling prairie.s. vast belts of timber, oak openings, 
numerous lakes and streams, with their accompanyingmiuidows, waterfalls, wood- 
ed ravines and lofty bluffs, which impart variety, grandeur and picturesque beauty 
to its scenery. 

The State may be divided into three principal districts. In the northern and 
western part of the Stite an exception to its general evenness of surface occurs 



10 MINNESOTA : 

in an elevated district which may be termed the highlands of Minnesota. This 
district, resting on primary rocks, is of comparatively small extent — Iti.GOO 
square miles — and covered with a dense growth of pine," fir, spruce, &c.; it has 
an elevation of about 450 feet above the general level of the country, and is 
covered with hills of diluvial sand and drift, from 85 to 100 feet in height, among 
which the three great rivers of the American Coutiueut — the Mississippi, 
St. Lawrence, and Red River — take their rise. The temperature of this district 
is from 5 to 8 degrees lower than that of the rest of the State ; although pos- 
sessing some good land, its principle value consists in its immense forests and its 
rich mineral deposits of copper, iron and the precious metals. 

The valley of the Red River forms another district larger than the highlands, 
containing 18,000 square miles, with a deep, black soil composed of alluvial 
mould, and rich in organic deposits. This district produces the heaviest crops 
of grain, especially wheat, of any section in the United States. It has a sab- 
soil of clay, is but sparsely timbered, with but few rivers or lakes, and is not 
therefore so well drained as other parts of the State. 

The Mississippi valley comprises the third district; it contains about 50,000 
square miles, or about three-fifths of the whole State. It is the " garden spot " 
of the Xorthwest, auJ comprises one of the finest agricultural districts in the 
world. Its general oharacte'istics are those of a rolling prairie region, resting 
on secondary rocks ; it is unusually well drained, both by the nature of the soil, 
■which is a warm, dark calcareous and sandy loam, and the innumerable lakes and 
streams which cover its surface with a perfect network. It is dotted by numer- 
ous and extensive groves and belts of timber. These main districts are also 
subdivided into smaller ones by the valleys of the numerous streams which in- 
tersect them; but space does not admit of a detailed description. 

Rivers and Streams. — The Mississippi river, 2,400 miles long, which draias a 
larger region of country than any stream on the globe, with the exception of the 
Amazon, rises in Lake Itasca, in the northern part of Minnesota, and flows 
southeasterly through the State 797 miles, 134 of which forms its eastern boun- 
dary. It is navigable for large boats to St. Paul, and above the Falls of St. 
Anthony for smaller boats for about 150 miles farther. The season of navigation 
is geLCrally about eight months — sometimes a month longer outside of Lake 
Pepin. In 1868 steamboats run here ten of the twelve mouths; and the fourth 
annual steamboat excursion from St. Paul on the Mississippi, took place on the 
iii'st of December, and the river closed on the 10th. 

The principal towns and cities on the Mississippi in Minnesota, are, Winona, 
"Wabashaw, Lake City, Red Wing, Hastings, St. Paul, Minneapolis, St. Anthony, 
Anoka, Dayton, Monticello, St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Little Falls, Watab. 

The Minnesota River, the source of which is among the Cuteau des Prairies, 
in Dacotah Territory, flows from Big Stone Lake, uu the western boundary of the 
State, a distance of nearly 500 miles, through the heart of the southwestern part 
of the State, and empties into the Mississipjii at Fort Snelling, 5 miles above St. 
Paul. It is navigable as high up as the "fellow Medicine, 238 miles above its 
mouth, during good stages of water. Its principal places are Shakopee, Chaska, 
Carver, Belle Plaine, Henderson, LeSueur, Traverse des Sioux, St. Peter, Man- 
kato, New Ulm and Redwood, 

Tlie St, Croix River, rising in Wisconsin, near Lake Superior, forms about 
130 miles of the eastern boundary of the State. It empties iuto the Mississippi 
nearly opposite Hastings, and is navigable to Taylor's Falls, about 50 miles. It 
penetrates the pineries and furnishes imni'^nse water power along its course. The 
principal places on it are Stillwater and Ta^'lor's Falls. 

Tke Red River, rises in Lake Traverse, and flows northward, forming the 
western boundary of the State from Big Stone Lake to the British Possessions, 
a distance of 880 miles. It is navigable from Breckenridge, at the mouth of the 
Bois de Sioux River to Hudson's Bay ; the Saskatchewan, a triljutary of the 
Red River, is also said to be a navigable stream, thus promising an active com- 
mercial trade from this vast region when it shall have become settled up, via the 
-St. Paul and Pacific railroad, which connects the navigable waters of the Red 
Hiver with those of the Mississippi. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 11 

Cannon River, dividiag Dakota aud Goodhue couuties, it is said cau be made 
oi navigable stream by slack-water improvemeuts, for which purpose a company 
with acapital of 650,UUU has beeu formed. 

Aiiiou"' the mure importaut of the numerous small streams are Rum River, 
valuable for lumberinj^ : Verniiliou River, furuishiug- extensive water power and 
possessing some of the finest casades in the United States ; the Crow, Blue 
Earth, Root, Sauk, Le Sueur, Zumbro, Cottonwood, Long Prairie, Red Wood, 
AVaraju, Pejuta Ziza. Mauja VVakau, Buttalo, Wild Rice, JPlum, Saud Hill, Clear 
Water, Red Lake, Thief, Black, Red Cedar, aud Des Moines rivers ; the St. 
Louis Rivv^r, a large stream flowing into Lake Superior, navigable for twenty- 
one miles from its lake outlet, and furnishing a water-power at its falls said to be 
•equal to that of the falls of the i\lississippi at St. Anthony, and many others, 
besides all the innumerable hosts of first aud secondary tributaries to all the 
larger streams. The sources of most of these streams being high, their descent 
is considerable, furnishing the finest system of water-powers of every grade iu 
the world. Many of the brooks, with deep cut channels, are full of trout, leap 
and dance merrily over the prairies, often taking sudden leaps, forming beautiful 
•and romantic cascades. One of these, on the outlet of Lake Miunetouka, has 
ibeen immortalized by Longfellow iu Hiawatha : 

" Here the Falls of Minne-ha-ha 
Kiasli and gleam among the oak trees, 
Laugh and leap into the vallej ." 

Lakes. — Lake Superior, the largest body of fresh water on the globe, forms a 
portion of the eastern boundary of Minnesota, giving it 167 miles of lake 
■coast, with one of the best natural harbors aud breakwaters, at Du Luth, iVlimie- 
sota, to be found on any coast. When the Superior and Mississippi railroad 
is completed, connecting the commercial centres of the State with Lake Superior, 
a large lake commerce will spring into existence. 

Besides, the whole surface of the State is literally begemmed with innuumera- 
ble lakes, estimated by Schoolcraft at 10,000 They are of all sizes, from 600 
yards iu diameter to 10 miles. Tlieir pictiiresijue beauty aud loveliness, with 
their pebbly bottoms, transparent waters, wooded shores aud sylvan associations, 
jnust be seen to be fully appreciated. They all abound in fish, black and rock 
bass, pickerel, pike, perch, cat, suutish, &c., of superior quality and flavor ; and 
in the spring and fall they are the hauuts of innumerable duck, geese, aud other 
wild fowl. In some places they are solitary, at others found in groups or chains. 
Many are \vithout outlets, others give rise to meanderii g and meadow-bordered 
brooks. These lakes act as reservoirs for water, penetrating the soil and by 
their exhalations giving rise to summer showers during dry weather. Prof. 
Maury says of Minnesota, that although far from the sea, "it may be considered 
the best watered State iu the Union, and it doubtless owes its abundance of 
summer rains measurably to this lake system." 

Forests. — Among those unacquainted with the State, Minnesota is apt to be 
regarded as a prairie country, destitute of timber. On the contrary, there is uo 
Wtstern State better supplied with forests. 

In the northren part of the fctale is an immense forest region estimated to 
•cover upwards of 21,u00 square miles, constituting one of the great sources of 
health and industry of the btate. The prevailing wood of this region is piue, 
with a considerable proportion of ash, birch, maple, elm, poplar, &c. West of 
the;Mississippi, lying between it and the Minnesota, aud extending south of that 
stream, is the Big Woods, about 100 miles in length aud 40 miles wide. This 
district is full of lakes, aud broken by small openings. The prevailing woods 
are oak, maple, elm, ash, ba.sswood, butternut, black walnut aud hickory. Be- 
sides these two large forests, nearly all the streams are fringed with woodland, 
«iid dense forests of considerable extent cover the valleys. The extensive bot- 
toms of the Mississijjpi, .Minnesota and Blue Earth are covered with a heavy 
;growth of white aud black walnut, maple, boxwood, hickory, linden aud cotton 



12 MINNESOTA : 

W )0(1. The valleys of the Zunibro aiirl Root rivers support hirgo tracts of for- 
ests gi'owih. They are found more or less in Wabashaw, Dodge, Steele, Fill- 
more, Mower, Freehoru and Olmsted aud contiguous counties. 

But the o,ik openiugs, distributed iu groves and large parks through the up- 
lands along the margins of the numerous streams, fonu a large resource of the 
prairie population for domestic and mechanical purposes. Towards the western 
boundary of the State the timber becomes more scanty, and it assumes more the 
character of a vast prairie region, dotted here and there with groves and belta 
of timber, fringing the lied River and the minor streams. The choice timbered 
lands aud oak openings will be first selected by the settler, and the treeless prai- 
ries of the western frontier will be covered with timber in a few years, as soon 
as the annual scourge of the prairie fire is checked. Wherever these fires are 
arrested the land is soon covered by a dense growth of timber. 

THE PrNTERIES AKD LUjVrBERrSTG IXTEREST. 

The vast pine forests co^■er the northern part of the State, extending from 
Lake Superior to the outlet of Red T-ake, and extending as fax south as latitude 
46° in Anoka county. The principal pineries where lumber is obtained are sit- 
uated upon the headwaters of the Upper Mississippi, aud those of the St. Croix, 
Kettle, Snake, Rum, Crow Wing aud Otter Tail rivers. The logs are cut iu the 
dead of winter, and when the ground is co veiled with snow are conveyed to the 
streams, down which they are floated in the spring when tiie snow and ice melts. 
These pine forests being almost inexhaustible, constitute a va.'t source of wealth 
for generations to come. 'I'hey give emi)loyment to a large number of lumber- 
men, who constitute a hardy class of industry as distinct as that of railroad or 
steamboatmen. 

The lumber trade of Minnesota is constandy increasing, and the Mi.ssissippi 
River aud Lake Superior Rail Road running as it will through an immense lum- 
ber district. Mill greatly add to it. The amo mt of logs aud lumber cut and 
manufactured at the Fails of Sunt Anthonv, and the St. oroix, iu the year 1868,, 
reaches nearly 40(),(jOO,0(]0 feet ! 

MINERAL EESOLTRCES. 

Copper and Iron. — The mineral deposits of Minnesota are another important 
source of wealth. In the northern part of the State copper and iron ore ot 
superior quality are found. 'I'he copper mines are situated on thn northern shore 
of Lalce Superior, and are rich and extensive. Very pure specimens of copper 
ore have also bepu obtained from Stuart and Knife livers. Thick de])0siti! of 
iron ore are found on Portage and Pigeon rivers, said to be equal iu tenacity 
and malleability to the best Swedish and Ru.ssia iron. 

Coal — Deposits of coal have been discovered on the Big Cottonwood river, 
a tributary of the Minnesota, and indications of Jt have been ob.^erved in other 
localities. On the Cottonwood veins some geologists are confident that rich; 
beds will yet be developed. 

The Precious Metals. — " A geological survey, made under the auspices of 
the Sta,te iu the summer of 1865, developed the existence of the precious metals 
on the shores of Vermilion Lake, 80 miles north of the head of Lake Superior. 
Scieutific analysis attested the presence of gold and silver, in the quartz sur'ace 
rock, in sulBcient quantities to warrant the employment of labor a'ld capital in 
their extraction, for which object a number of joint stock companies have been 
formed and a cousideiable number of enterprising persons provided with neces- 
sary appliances for mining, have repaired to that place in search of gold. There 
is good i-eason to believe the search will be successful." — H. C. Rogeis, Sec- 
retary of State 

But the richest mines of wealth belonging to any State is a productive soil, 
and in this .Minnesota is unequalled. There is a mine of gold on every farm of 
160 acres, and it requires no capital to work it except industry. 

Granite. — A finu bed of granite, equal to the best Quiucy granite for building 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 13 

purposes, crops out at Sank Rapids. A quarry is opened tliere now, and the 
granite brousj;Lt to St. Paul, wlicre it is used iu the constiuctioii oftlie U. S. 
Custom House, and is also used iu some fine edifices iu Minneapolis, ht. Cloud 
and other citie.s of the Stale. 

Limestone of fine (juality for building- purposes is found in many portion.s of 
the State, (in fact nearly all over it,) and affords ample material lor the mauufac- 
ture of lime. 

Sandstone exi.sta at Fort Snellin"^, Mendota, and other points in ine.xhaustible 
quantities. A tine white sand I'or the manufacture of flint glas.s aboundfl near 
St. Paul, St. Anthony and Minvieapolis .-aid to be equal to any iu tlie world. 
An extensive quarry of s'ate stoue is found on the Saint Louis IJiver, and 
probably exists at other points, A kind of blue clai/, uiulerlyinjj the soil in a 
•arge part of the State makes brick of a f^ood quality. \V bite marl occurs in 
iar^'e beds at Minnea])oli.s, St. Anthony and other places ; it is used for pottery 
mauuiacturii:p, and also makes a hard d\irable brick similar to the famous 
"Milwaukee brick," and Chaska, on the Minnesota River, also produces a l)rick 
said to sui pa.ss tlmt of Milwaukee. Iu Wabashaw county a bed of the finest 
porcelain clay has been found. 

Salt Springs. — Numerous very pure salt springs, yielding upwards of a 
bushel of salt to every twenty-four gallous of water, abound iu the lied River 
valley Tiie northwest, which consumes vast quantities of salt for pork and b.ief 
packing, and other ))urposes, will eventually be su])plied from this source. The 
value of this source of wealth may be estimated from the /act that two million 
bushels are auuually importeii iuto Chicago aloue, from New York and Peuu- 
sylvauia. 

Tripoli. — .\.o inexhaustible bed of the purest Tripoli, requiring, according to 
Prof. Shepard, no preparation to be fit at once for use and commerce, has beeu 
discovered near Stillwater, it is twenty feet thick a:id at least a half mile long. 

MIXXESOTA AS A STOCK-GKOWIXG STATE. 

For raising cattle and horses, Minnesota is fully equal to Illiuois ; and for 
sheep growing it is far superior. According to established laws of nature cold 
clinuites require a large quantity and finer quality of wool or fur than warm 
oue.s hence the fur and wool bearing animals are found iu ])erfection only iu 
uortbern regions. Ihe thick coat of the sheep especially identifies it with a 
cold country ; the excessive heat to which their wool subjects them iu a warm 
climate generates disease. 'I'he fleece of Minnesota sheep is remarkably fine and 
heavy, and they aie not subject to the rot and other diseases so disa.strous to 
sheep in warm and moist localities, it is as.-erted by slock growers that sheep 
brought here while suffering with the rot speedily become healthy, and the 
same has been said of horses with heaves and shortnes.s of breath. The .sleek 
and velvety appearance of hor.ses here in summer time gives them the appear- 
' auce of highly kejit stallions. 'J'he cattle rais^l here are also remarkably 
healthy, the uuanimous testimony of butchers being that they seldom meet with 
a diseu.^ed liver. 

Our fine, i-ich upland meadows afford excellent facilities for grazing purposes; 
and hay in abundance for keeping stock during the winter may i)e had for the 
reaping. The cbaracteri.stic perfection and nutritious (pialities of the gras.ses iu 
this State enables the farmer to keep his hor.se.s and cattle fat on it all winter 
without grain. 'I'he valleys and margins of the numerous streams and lake.s, 
found on almost every farm, furnish an abundance of a coirser y:rass than that 
obtained from the upland meadows ; this is generally fed to cattle, which are 
very fond of it both in its greeu and cured state. 

Although the winters in Minnesota are apparently longer, tiie actual number 
of days during which .stock has to be fed here is no more than iu Ohio and 
Southern Illiuois. 

Hogs also do extremely well here, anil the abundance and certainty of the 
grain crop enables farmers to raise them as clu'aply as elsewhere. 

All stock requires shelter during the winter iu this climate, but the necessity ifl 



14 MINNESOTA : 

no greater than in Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. The washing, chilling and debil- 
itating winter rains of those States are far more iujorioas to out stock thart 
our severest cold. All the shelter which stock requires here is that readily 
furnished by the immense straw piles which accumulate from the threshing of 
the annual grain crop. A frame-work of rails or poles is made, and the straw 
thrown over it, leaving the south side open. Under this cattle stand, feed on the- 
straw in perfect security from the inclemencies of the severest winter. 

SOCIAIi STATUS. 

The condition of society in all newly settled countries is a subject ot 
interest to the settler. As a general thing the social status, in point of educa- 
tion, morals and refiuement, is inferior to that of the older States. But in Min- 
nesota, although outside the capital and its other principal cities we do not boast 
much artificial refinement, the moi'als of the community, as shown by our crim- 
inal statistics, are at least equal to those of the model States of New-England. 

The society throughout the State is good ; no prim and retired New-England 
village could outvie our young and thriving cities with their cleanly, decorous 
and whitewashed appearance. The population is composed mainly of American, 
Irish and Germans, but almost every nationality is represented. Most of the 
settlers are plain, honest, industrious farmers, attracted to our State by the salu- 
brity of its climate, and the productiveness and cheapness of its lands. A large 
proportion of the population is made up of the best classes from the older States, 
North and South, who have come to reap the advantages of our fine climate, or 
to invest their means in property in our fine agricultural districts and in our rap- 
idly growing towns, where immense fortunes have been realized by their rapid 
and solid growth. 

We rarely see here any of that ruffianism and lawlessness which in most new 
States renders them unpleasant as a permanent residence. It would be as diffi- 
cult to find a township without its " meeting house " and school house as in Ohio 
or Pennsylvania. The various religious denominations are proportioned among 
the population in about the same ratio as in the older States. 

The following table, from the Bureau of Statistics, exhibits the ratio of crime 
in several States^as compared with Minnesota: 

State. No. ef Indictments. No. of Convictions. Ratio of Convictionsi 

Ohio, - - 3,671 1,234 1 in 1,950 

Massachusetts, - 4,248 1.295 1 in 841 

New-York, - 1,842 1 in 1,900 

Minnesota, - - 122 44 1 in 3,854 

"The comparison is remarkably favorable to Minnesota, but might have been 
expected in a population chiefly agricultural." 

EDUCATION" AND SCHOOLS. 

Minnesota took the subject of education in hand at an early stage of her set- 
tlement, and she may now justly boast of possessing the most munificent endow- 
ment for educational purposes of any State in the Union. Two sections of land,. 
1,280 acres, in every township, are set apart for sale or lease in aid of common 
schools, amounting in all to three million acres. 

In the Message of Governor Marshall to the Legislature of Minnesota, January 
7th, 1869, upon tliis subject, he says : 

"The sales of school lands during the year 1868 have been 76,910 acres, pro- 
ducing S464,840.61, which sum added to the former accumulations ofthe per- 
manent school fund, makes the magnificent fund of two millions seventy-seven 
thousand, eighty-two dollars!" The State Land Commissioner estimates that the 
land granted to the State for school purposes will amount to three million acres 
when the Government Surveys are completed. But little more than one tenth 
of the whole have been sold — making allowance for inferior lands there will ulti- 
matly be derived from these lands the grand sum of sixteen million dollars for 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. , 15 

the perpetual use of common schools. What an inheritance for the children of 
Minnesota !" 

From the able report ofthePIon. M, H. Bunnell, State Superiutenilent of 
Public Instruction, I take the followin<i' facts ; 

Whole number of school districts in the State in 1868, was 2,353, whole num- 
ber of children in the State by the returns for 1868, 129,103. an increase for the 
year of 14,682 over 1867: whole number of Teachers in 1868, 3,276; value of 
school houses in the State in 1868. 1,091,559.42. His report says Minnesota 
has a larger number of School Houses than any other State in the Union of the 
same population and taxable property. Her total expenditures for school pur- 
poses during the last two years exceed .^1,500,000, and her school houses have 
already cost over one million dollars ! These facts constitute a record of which 
our young State may well be proud. 

STATE UNIVERSITY. 

This institution is located in the city of St Anthony and now in successful 
operation. A land grant of 46,080 acres was made for the endownmeut of a 
State University and a magnificent college edifice erected. In addition to the 
above land grant, in March, 1868, by an act of our State Legislature the Agri- 
cultural College Lands granted liy the general government were given to the 
University of Minnesota, being 120,000 acres. 

The First State Normal School is located at Winona and in successful opera- 
tion, training teachers for our common schools. The number in attendance the 
past vear 122. The school buildings are large, elegant and a credit to the 
State'. 

The Second State Normal School is located at Mankato, and has but recently 
been opened. 

The Third State Normal School is located at St. Cloud, and will, in a short 
time, enter upon its career of usefiduess. 

Private enterprise has also established many private schools, classical Acad.a- 
mies and Seminaries in different portions of the State, thus affording educational 
facilities surpassing many of the older States. 

CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 

Minnesota, although as yet too young to have a system of the noble public 
charities perfected, her wants in this line are provided for as soon as felt. An 
Asylum for the deaf dumb and blind is in operation at Faribault ; ample land 
grants have been made for the erection of an Insane Asylum, as well as for the 
support and education of the orphans of soldiers who fell in the late war. The 
Insane ^isylum has been located at St. Peter, and is now in practical operation, 
and contains about 100 patients at this time. A State Reform School has been 
located near St. Paul, and is now in operation. There are two Orphan Asylums 
in St. Paul, one under the auspices of the Protestants, the other of the Cath- 
olics. 

BANKS. 

The State has sixteen National Banks, with an aggregate paid up capital of 
nearly two millions, located as follows : 

St. Paul, 3, Capital, $900,000 



Minneapolis, 3, 

Winona, 2, 

Ha.stings, 2, 

Red Wing, 1, 

Rochester, 1, 

Shakopee, 1, 

Austin. 1, 

Stillwater, 1, 

Faribau't, 1, 



200,000 
100,000 
200,000 
50,000 
60,000 
50,000 
50,000 
50,000 
50,000 



16 mjjSTKesota: 

These, with numerous private barks located at the principal manufacturing 
and commercial centres, afford ample conveniences for the transaction of busi- 
ness. More banking capital, however, is needt-d to facilitate the rapidly increas- 
incr business of the iStato, and more than double the present amount would find 
active, safe and profitable employment. 

RIVER TRADE — STEAIVIBOATS AND BARGES. 

The steamboat business of Minnesota is as yet confined to the Mississippi, 
the Minnesota and the St. Croix rivers. On the Mississippi the business is 
principally done by thn following lines of boats, although a large number of 
inde|)tMident or " wild" boats, as they are called, engage in our trade : 

The North Western Union Packet Company, [white collar Line,] being a union 
of the " Davidson Line " and the Minuesola Packet Company, has within a few 
years grown to a large and influential company, starting, it is said with a "Line" 
consisting of OHP boat, they now own fourteen first class packets, nineteen stern 
wheel steamers together with one hundred and thirty-one barges, and emi)loy over 
2,300 men. The capital stock of this company is §1,")00,000. Their Imats ply 
betweei] St. Louis and St. Paul, and LaCrosse and St Paul ; two lioiits leav- 
ing St. Paul daily, connecting with the 111. Central R„R at Dubufpie, Milwau- 
kee K.R. at Prairie du Chien and LaCrosse, and also a daily Line from St. Louis 
to St. Paul. This line also has boats on the St. Croix, one boat daily to Tayl- 
or's Falls, and on the Minnesota a daily packet bi;sides several freighters. 'J'hey 
have recently purchased the St. Louis and Quincy Packet Co's Beats. 

The Northern Line boats ply between St. Louis and St. Paul, but L have not 
been able to obtain the i'acts as to this Line. 

The (Collector of Customs at the Port of St. Paul, gives the aggregate ton- 
nage of that port for 18GS, at 16,430.27 to: s, which falls far short of the 
actual amount, because of a large number of the boats being registered at Du- 
buque and Galena. Were the boats and barges plying to the Port of St. Paul 
all registered there, the tonnage would double the amount given above. 

An association of capitalists have recently projected an enterprise of great 
nioment to the Northern portion of the State. It is that of steamboat navi- 
gation from the Falls of Saint Anthony to St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids, also from 
Sauk Paj)ids to the Falls of Pokegama. These, if successful, will greatly aid in 
the development of an immense extent of valuable country. 'J'he localities that 
will be more immediately benefited are St. Authon', , Minneapolis, Anoka, Day- 
ton, Oisego, Mouticeilo, Clear Water, Elk River, St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Little 
Falls, Sauk Centre, Alexandria, &c. 

THE RAILROAD SYSTEM OF MINKESOTA. 

In 1857, Congress made a land grant of four and a half million acres to Min- 
nesota for railroad purposes. In 18G4, an additional grant was made. 

These acts grant ten sections, or G,4n0 acres of land for each mile of road to 
be built under it, and projected the great lines which were intended to benefit all 
parts of the State, and provide for its increasing demands. These lines are as 
follows : 

STILLW.'V.TER AND ST. PAUL R. R. CO. 

1st. — A line from Stillwater to St. Paul, 18 miles in length. It has been 
located, and the franchises of the company and its land grant are in the hands of 
the busin(>ss men of Stillwater, who are directly interested in the early comple- 
tion of the road. 

When finished it will bring to St. Paul the heavy lumber trade of the St 
Croix Valley, and will materially a,ssist in the developmeiit of a rich agricultural 
region. 

T!IE FIRST DIVISION OF THE ST. PAUL AND PACIFIC R. R. CO. 

2d. -From St. Paul, via St. Anthony and Minneapolis, to a point on the 
western boundary of the State, near or at Big Stone Lake, with a branch from 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 17 

.Bt. Anthouy to VVatab. The maiu liae, from St. Paul to the western bouadary 
of the State, is 200 miles iu leugth. It has beea looateJ the whole distance ; 
forty miles of the road is iu operation, it is graded and ready for the iron, 
and the company expect to complete it to the centre of Meeker County, 
through the "Big Woods," a distance of 70 miles from St. Paul, by the first of 
June, 18G9, and to complete ninety additional miles by the first of Jaimary, 1870. 
An expensive bridge over the Mississippi, just above the Falls of St. Anthony, 
has been completed and is now in constant use. 

The branch line trom St. Anthony up the valley of the Mississippi, is com- 
pleted to Sauk Ra])ids, a distance of 65 miles, and is now iu operation. The 
remaining section of the branch line will be finished as soon as the business of 
the country will justify. 

THE ST. PAUIi AND PACIFIC R. R. CO. 

3d. — Aline from Watab, where it connects with the First Division of the St. 
Paul aud Pacific Kail Road, via Crow Wing, to Pembina, om the great Red 
River of the North, about 320 miles in length, with a branch from some point 
between St. Cloud and Crow Wing to Lake Superior, a distance of 1^20 miles. 

The line from Watab to Crow Wing has been located, but is not yetiu course 
of coustructioa. Operations have not commenced on the Lake Superior branch. 

ST. PAUL AND SIOUX CITY, [lATE MINNESOTA VALLEY R. R.] 

4lh. — A line from St. Paul, up the valley of the Minnesota, to Mankato, 
thence iu a southwesterly direction to the Iowa State line ; there to meet a road 
from Siou.K City, Iowa, to the Minnesota State Hue. 

The distance from St. Paul to Iowa State line is 170 miles ; from thence to 
Sionx '^ity 70 miles. 

The road is completed aud in operation from St. Paul to Mankato, 86 miles, 
and work on the line is in progress toward Sioux City. The distance fiom 
Mankato to .^ioux City is 170 mile?, to which point the Sio;iX City aud Pacific 
road is now completed. 

THK MILWAUKEE AND ST. PAUL RAILWAY 00. 

5thi — A line from St. Paul and Minneapolis ("junction at IMendota) via Fari- 
bault and Uwatonna, to the north line of the State of Iowa. This line runs 
almost due north and south ; it intersects the Winona aud St. Peter Rail Road 
at Owatouua; is about 110 miles long, aud connects with the Iowa Division of 
the sa;n.^ v' )iii.):uiy, which is complete to McGrregor, ou tite Mississippi, opposite 
Prairie du Chieu. 

This Railway furnishes the only all rail continuous route from Milwaukee and 
Chicago to St. Paul and .Mininapolls, connecting at Mendola with St. Paul 
and Sioux City Railroad for St. Peter, Alankato and ail points on tiie Minne- 
sota River; and at St. Paul and .Minnrapolis with the St. Paul and Pacific Rail- 
road for St. Cloud and all points in the north west, being the direct route to the 
valley of the great "' Red River of the JYoi th." 

Arrangements have been made and now begun for bridging the Mississippi at 
St. Paul and running into that cty at a convenient point for the accommodation 
of both passenger and freight tiallic. The city of Minneapolis has also granted 
the right of way for this road to unite track-; with the main line of the St. Paul 
and Pacific Railroad within its Innits. Whi'U thos • imp )rt nit additions are male, 
the facilities for the tian.^aetion of bu.-ii:ess and interchange of traffic between the 
different Railways of tlie State will be as pf-rfect as those of any of the older 
States, and will teud greatly to increase the u:^"fuln:;ss of the.se lines to the pub- 
lic. 

LAKE SUPERIOR AND MISSISSIPPI R. R. CO. 

6th. — A line from St. Paul, which is the hea I of navigation on the Mississippi 
river, to the head of liake Superior iu Minnesota, with authority to connect 
with a branch to Superior City, Wiscon-'in. The distance to the navigable 
waters of Lake vSuperior is 133 miles ; to the head of Lake Superior, 150 miles. 
This line is couLrolled by the Lake Superior aud Mississippi R. li. Co. It is 
2 



18 MINNESOTA : 

completed to Wyoming, 30 miles from St. Paul, and will be pushed to completion 
the entire distance within two years. This road has also a grant of seven sec- 
tions to the mile of State lands in addition to those named. 

THE HASTINGS AND DAKOTA R. R. CO. 

7th. — A line from Hastings, through the counties of Dakota, Scott, Carver, and 
McLeod, to the foot of Big Stone Luke. 

This road is finished to Farmington, where it intersects the .Milwaukee and 
St. Paul Road, a distance of 22 miles. It is an east and west line across the 
State, and work progressing. 

THK WINONA AND ST. PETER R. R. CO. 

8th.— A line from Winona, via St Peter, to the western boundary of the State. 

This line extends east and west across the entire State. It is completed to 
Waseca, 105 miles west of Winona, and will be finished to the Minnesota River, 
140 miles, by the close of 186'J. When completed, the line will be 250 miles 
lorg. • It intersects the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway at Owatonna, and has 
recontlj been purchased by the Xorth Western R. R. Co., which insures its 
rapid completion. Witaiu three or four months the eastern connection of this 
road with the Milwaukee and St. Paul road will be in operation. Thus forming 
another all Rail route from the East to the interior of Minnesota. 

THE SOUTHERN MINNESOTA R. R. CO. 

9th. — A line from La Crescent up the valley of the Root River, through the 
counties of Houston, Fillmore, .Mower, Freeborn, Faribault, Martin, Jackson, 
Noble, and Rock, to the western boundary of tlie ytate. 

This line is controlled by the Southern Minnesota R. R. Co., is completed to 
Lanesboro, Fillmore county, 50 miles west of the Mississippi river, and will be 
pushed forward vigorously to its terminus at the Great Bend of the Missouri. 
This company propose to construct the road this season from Austin orLaiisiug^ 
on the Milwaukee and St. Paul road to Albert Lea, in Freeborn couuty, thence 
to Blue Earth City, Fairmont and Jackson. It crosses the entire State, from 
east to west, through the southern tier of counties, and is ujiwards of 250 miles 
long. 

THE NORTHERN PACIFIC R. R. CO. 

10th. — During the past year several corps of engineers have been engaged in 
locating the line ot this road across the State of Miiniesota. 

Two lines have been run: one commencing at Bayfield, on Lake Superior, 
passing about 10 miles south of Superior City, and thence via St. Cloud, up the 
valley of Sauk River to Breckenridge, on the Red River of ti.e North. The 
other, commencing at Superior City, passes almost due M-est, crossing the Miss- 
issippi 10 or 12. miles above Crow Wing, and thence to Breckenridge, on Red 
River. 

It is not yet known which line will be adopted; but either will cross the State 
from east to west, and will add immensely to the development of Northern Min- 
nesota. 

All the roads named have been endowed by Congress with land grants of ten 
sections or 6,400 acres per mile, with the exception of the Northern Pacific 
■which has a grant of twenty sections or 12.800 acres per mile. 

THE CHICAGO AND ST. PAUL RAILWAY CO. 

11th. — In addition to the lines named above, the St. Paul and Chicago Rail- 
way Company has been authorized to construct a road along the Mis.sissippi 
River from St, Paul to the southei-n boun<lary of the State, and hjis been 
endowed with a valuable grant of State lands, amounting to fourteen sections or 
nearly 10,000 acres of land per mile. 'l"he line has been surveyed as far as 
Winona, a distance of 100 miles, and partly graded. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 19 



It is impossible to overestimate tlie importance of this system of railroads to 
the preseut aud future populatiou of the State. The construction of these Hues 
now in active progress gives employment to vast numbers of men, and o-jves as- 
surance that every part of the State in the near future will enjoy the beneflts of 
a cheap and speedy trans'portatiou of passengers aud products to and fro. And 
when completed, the system will give to the whole State every advantage, so far 
as markets are concerned, which now belongs to the favored State of Illinois. 

These lines, covering over 2,000 miles wholly within the limits of the State, 
are rajjidly opening up some of the best lands in the world, by bringing them 
■within e;usy reach of good markets. The ditfiireut railroad companies are pur- 
Buing a liberal policy towards immigrants offering them inducements as to price 
and time of payments, seeing that their own prosperity is identical with that ofthe 
State, St. Paul may be said to form the heart or centre of this net-work of the 
"arteries of trade." 

The great facility which Minnesota possesses of sending her produce to mar- 
ket is not the least of her many advantages. The richest lands and the finest 
climate in the world are useless in a commercial point of view if not connected 
■with the great trading emporiums by wide and accessible channels of trade. The 
broad bosom of the Mississippi sweeps our commerce to the Gulf of Mexico, 
and brings back the cotton of the South to be manufactured by our numberless 
■water-powers ; our railroads open another channel to the Atlantic coast ; while by 
way of lake navigation, via Lake Superior and the great Pacific Railroad, con- 
necting us with both the Atlantic and Pacific, afford ample and unequalled com- 
mercial facilities. 

Navigation on Lake Superior opens the last of April an 1 closes about the 1st 
of December. In previous years propellers have left Buffalo as late as the 10th 
of December, in 1861 as late as the 21st. 

"The navigation of Lake Superior, contrary to the general opinion, is much 
safer than that of the lower lakes. Its waters, being deeper, make easier seas, and 
it is navigable as many days in the year as any of them. * * * * 
It has been predicted by thinking men, who understand the subject, that when 
steam communication shall have been effected across the continent from the 
Pacific to the Atlantic, a change must take place in the courses of the commerce 
between the East and the West. When you can lay down in London and Hamburg 
cargoes of tea, silks, &c., from China, within fifty to sixty days after their ship- 
ment from there, then the old courses of trade by the way of the Cape of Good 
Hope will have to be abandoned — then the commercial sceptre will depart from 
England and pass into our keeping. This all seems as sure as anything in the 
future can be." — Report of the Buffalo Board of Trade, for 1866. 

PROJECTED RAIL ROADS. 

In addition to the ten Lf.nd Grant Roads already mentioned, nearly all of 
■which are progressing rapidly, there are the following ten roads projected, some 
of which will be comm='nced this year. 

1st. — 'I'he Owatoi.na and State Line R. R. Co. propose to construct a road 
from OwaTouna via Albert Lea to the south line ofthe State, there to connect 
with a road now in progress northward through Iowa. Large local aid has been 
secured. 

2d. — A road from Lanesboro, Fillmore county, via Chatfield to Rochester, 
Zutiibrota and Cannon Falls to Saint Paul, passing through the counties of 
Olin-ted, VVabashaw, Goodhue and Dakota. 

3d. — A road from the Mississippi river, starting at the city of Red Wing 
thence via Cannon Falls and Faribault to Blue Earth City. 

•Ith. — A road from W^ibashaw at foot of Lake Pepin, on the Mississippi 
river, via Plainview, Rochester and Lansing to Omaha with a branch via. 
Faribault to St. Peter. 

5th. — A road from Minneapolis up the West side of the Mississippi river 



20 MINNESOTA : 

via Dayton, Monticello and Clear Water to St. Cloud, theuce up Sauk Valley, 
via Sauk Ceutreto Alexandria, Douolas county. 

6th. — A road from White Bear Lake, on the Mississippi river and Lake 
Superior road via St. Anthony and Minneapolis to f^hakopee, Scott county, 
thence up the We-it side of the Minnesota river, via Chaska, Carver and Hen- 
derson to St. Peter. 

7th, — An " Air and hour Line Road" from St. Paul to Minneapolis and Saint 
Anothuy, distance from the city limits of St. Paul to the city limits of those 
cities five miles. 

8th. — A road from Saint Peter, via Maukato and Blue Earth City, to the 
Iowa line, thence to connect with the Keokuk and Fort Des Moines R. R. 

9th. — A road from Taylor's Falls, on the St. Croix, to connect with the Mis- 
sissippi river and Lake Superior R. R. 

10th. — A road from St. Cloud to Maukato, passing through Stearns, Meeker, 
Wright, McLeod, Sibley and ISicolet counties. 

MAXUFACTURIXO FACILITIES. 

Our State has, during the year 1868, made considerable progress in Manufac- 
turies of various kinds. Want of space prevents a detail. In nearly every 
section of the State there has been a gratifying improvement in this respect, 
more so than during any previous year of our history. 

"Apart from social causes and the general influence of the stimulating and 
exacting climates of the North, in developing the forms of skilled industry, it is 
owing chiefly to two physical circumstances that New-England has attained her 
present eminence in manufactures, in s])ite of her deficiency in the usetul minerals 
and the raw material employed in the arts. These are, first, her abundant water 
power ; and, second, her favorable commercial position which has eual)led her to 
obtain ready supplies of raw material from abroad and to distribute the product 
through a wide range of dependent markets. '1 hese circumstances alone among 
the physical conditions of manufacturing power, have raised the little State of 
Massachu.setts, without internal resources of raw material, without coal or iron, to 
the first rank among American States in the manufacture especially of textile 
fabrics. And these purely physical conditions of industrial developement exist in 
Minnesota in a greater degree than in New-England, and in addition she possesses 
to a large extent essential elements of raw material of which New-England is 
destitute. 

" L Minnesota ])Ossesses a more ample and etfective water power than New- 
England. 'J'he fal's and ra])ids of St. Anthony alone, with a total descent of 64 
feet, affords an available hydraulic capacity, according to an experienced and 
competent engineer, of 120,000 horse power. 'J'his is considerably greater thaa 
the whole motive power — steam and water— employed in textile manufacturefj 
in England in 1850, aud nearly seven times as great as the water power so 
employed. 

" That is to say, the available power created by this magnificent waterfall, is 
more than sufficient to drive all the 25,000,000 spindles and 4,000 mills of England 
and Scotland combined. The entire machinery of the English Manchester and 
the American Lowell, if they could be transplanted here, would scarcely press 
upon its immense hydraulic capabilities. But as compared with those great 
industrial centres, the Falls of St. Anthony possess one decisive advantage, which 
is to a great extent illustrative of the functions of the State as a commercial aud 
manufacturing emjiorium, this splendid cataract forms the terminus of continuous 
navigation on the ]\Iississii)pi ; and the same waters which lavish on the broken 
ledges of limestone a stren<ith almost sutlicieut to weave the garments of the 
world, may gather the products of its mills almost at their very doors and distribute 
them to every part of the great valley of the Mississippi. 

There are now at the Falls of St. Anthony thirteen grist mills, fourteen saw 
mills, two woolen mills, two paper mills, one oil mill. These, with minor 
establishments there, produced in 1867, Si, 669,358 worth of manufactured 
articles, and in 1868 of nearly $6,000,000, with a capital employed in manufac- 
turing industry of $2,894,360. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 21 

" The St Croix Falls, which are only second to St. Anthony Falls in hydraulic 
power, are similarly, thoiii,''h somewhat less advautageoiusly situated at the head 
of navigation upon a trihutary ot the Mississippi. FiXcept the Minnesota, nearly 
every tributary of the Mississippi, in its rapid and broken descent to the mSiia 
stream, afiords valuable mill sites. The Mississippi itself in its descent from its 
Itasca summit to Fort Snelliug, in wiiich it falls 836 feet, or over IG inches per 
mile, is charact<^'rizod by long steps of slack water, broken at long intervals by 
abrupt transitions in the character of the rocks which forms its bed, and funning a 
fine series of falls and rai>ids available for hydraulic works. Pokegoma Falls, 
Little Falls, Sauk Rapids, and St. Anthony Falls, are the chief of these. But the 
Elk, Rum, St. Croix, and numberless smaller streams on the east slope of the 
Mississispi, the Sauk, CJrow, Vermillion, Cannon, Zumbro, Miuueiska, Root, and 
their branches, nearly all the tributaries of the Minnesota, and a multitude of 
streams besides, in their abrupt descent over broken beds of limestone or sand- 
Btone, through long and winding valleys or ravines, with a fall of from three to 
eight feet per mile, aiFord an unlimited abundance of available water power to 
nearly every county in th6 State. This diffusion of hydraulic power throughout 
the whole State, is a feature whose value as an element of developement, can 
scarcely be over estimated, as it gives to every neighborhood the means of 
manufacturing its own flour and lumber, and affords the basis of all those 
numerous local manufactures which enter into the industrial economy of every 
northern conununity. 

'•'2. Passing to the second point of comparison with New-England, already 
incidentally touched upon, the commercial position of Minnesota upon the termini 
of the three great water lines of the continent, not only gives it an innnensely 
wider capacity of interior trade, but a far easier access to the sources of supply 
of raw material. A region six tim<;s as large as all New-England, as yet 
undeveloped, but already starting on the swift career of Western growth, and 
capable of supporting many millions of population, is directly dependent upon 
Minnesota for all the miiuifuctured commodities it may consume. Its position 
relative to these .Vorthivestern valleys, invests its maimfacturiug capabilities with 
au importance greater than those of any other of the interior districts of the con- 
tinent. For the future niaimfacture of cotton and woolen fabrics, it has decided 
advantages of position over New-K-nglaud. '^le Mississippi river brings it into 
intimate relations with the sources of the cotton supply, and it lies in the midst 
of the great wool zone of the continent.'" — J. A. Whedock. 

The falls of the St. Louis river, at the point where the Lake Superior and 
Mississippi R. R. reaches the uavagable waters of Lake Superior, said to furnish 
a manufacturing power etpial to that of the falls of the Alississippi river at St. 
Anthony, must not be omitted IVom the above list. 

Minnesota is evidently destined to become one of the greatest manufacturing 
States in the world, and already manufactories are springing up evfry where. 
There were five hundred and eleven establishments in 1860, with an aggregate 
capital of two and a half millions, producing annually four and a half million 
dollars worth of manufactures. The present number of establishments is esti- 
mated at l.'iOO, with a capital of twelve millions. 

Minne.sota has the further advantage of possessing the raw material for a 
large class of manufactures, — copper, iron, wool, lumber, salt springs, sand for 
flint glas.s, Sua., as already referred to, also coal and peat. 

AGRICULTURAL CAPACITY — THE SOIL AND ITS 
PRODUCTS. 

Not only are tlie manufacturing facilities of Minnesota equal to any in the 
world, out its agricultural capacities are unsurpassed by the finest agricultural 
districts of tlie ol<l States. 'This combinatio i of a'.rriculture and manufacture is 
somethiug very unusual ; generally where one I'eature is present, the other is ab- 
sent ; but here, both features exi^t, with all their advantages. Persons residing 



22 MINNESOTA : 

in the Middle and Western States too often regard Minnesota as an inhospita- 
ble region, too cold for agricuturul pursuits. But such will learn with surjjrise 
that few of the most productive districts in the world can compete with Minne- 
sota. 

Soils. — "The prevailing soil of Minnesota is a dark, calcareous, sandy loam, 
containing a various intermixture of clay, abounding in mineral salts and in or- 
ganic ingredients, derived from the accumulation of decomposed vegetal)le mat- 
ter for long ages of growth and decay. The sand of which silica is the base, 
forms a large proportion of this, as of all good soils. It plays an important part 
in the economy of growth, and is an essential constituent in the organism of 
all cereals. About sixty-seven per cent, of the ash of the stems of wheat, corn, 
rye, barley, oats and sugar-cane, is pure silica, or flint. It is this which gives 
the glazed coating to the plants, and gives strength to the stalk. 

"The superiority of sand in giving a high temperature to the soil, is a great 
advantage in a climate in which the limited jjeriod of vegetation requires the 
highest measures of heat." 

This species of soil, on account of its penetrability to a gi-eat distance, by the 
roots of plants, enables them to gather uutiimeut at a greater distance from 
the stalk. It is j)orous, and permits free respiration of the soil, — as important 
to plants as animals. Owing to capilary attraction, it easily imbibes moisture 
from the air, and retains it a long time, enabling it to support vegetation during 
drouths, that in less favored localities prove disastrous to crops. 'J'he same 
quality prevents it from becoming supersaturated with water during wet seasons, 
on account of the facility with which it drains. 

There is also this further advantage of sandy soils, that the roads are smooth 
and hard, easily made and kept in order, and are free from mire and nmd, thug 
facilitating travel, hauling, &c., as well as farm labor generally. 

"Another impoitant feature of the soil of Minnesota is, that its earthy mate- 
rials are minutely pulverized, and the soil is everywhere light, mellow and 
spongy, existing naturally in the condition reached in soils less favorably con- 
stituted, by expensive under-drainage. With these uniform characteristics, the 
soils of iliunesota are of different grades of fertility, according to local situa- 
tions, or the character of the underlying rocks from which their elements have 
been derived. Distributed according to geological situations, the soils of the 
agricultural district of Minnesota may be divided into limestone soils, drift soils, 
clay soils, and trap soils." 

Products of the Soil. — The following table shows the staple agricultural pro- 
ducts of Minnesota, and about the average yield per acre : — 

Crops. Av 

Wheat, 

Rye, - - 

Barley, 

Oats, 

Buckwheat, 

Corn, 

Potatoes, - 

The above table has been compiled with some care from various 
sources, and gives only the average yield of the crops mentioned, and may be 
taken as a fair sample of the average for the State at large, one year with another. 
It mu.-t be understood, however, that on the prevailing soil of Minnesota, with 
manuring and careful cultivation, the actual yield is often nearly double the al)ove 
figures. Potatoes, for instance, set down at 208, on good soil, and ordinary culti- 
vation, will easily yield 3')0 bushels per acre ; wheat 35, corn 40, and other crops 
in proportion. In 1865, from 400,000 acres of wheat in Minnesota there was 
harvested the enormous crop of 10,000,000 bushels, being an average yield of 25 
bushels to the acre. The crop of 1808 has been estimated by Mr. J"'usey, 
Assistant Secretary of St'.te, at 10,125,87;') bushels, from very imjierfect data, 
and I feel certain his desire to be safe made his estimate one million too low. 
Wheat is one of the chief staples of agriculture in Minnesota, and is compara- 



shels per acre. 


Crops. Af. No. bushels per acre. 


- 20.05 


Sweet potatoes, - - - lOo.OO 


21.56 


Beans, - - - - 15.00 


- 33.23 


Hemp lint, (pounds,) - - 1,140.00 


42.39 


Flax lint, " - 750.00 


- 20.00 


Sorghum, (gallons syrup) 100.00 


35.67 


Hay, (tons) - - - 2.12 


- 208.00 





ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 23 

tively exempt from the dangers to which it is exposed in other States, — drouth, 
rugt, smut, iusocts, &c. Theavcrage per ceiitage of the tillt'd area of the State in 
wheat is over 53 per ceut, nearly double that of Ohio, which is 33, or Illinois, 
which is 28, from the fact that iu thot^e States the uncertainty of the crop, from 
the above causes, renders it unsafe to venture so large a ])ropoi-tion of the crop 
upon so precarious a jiroduct. In INIinnesota the whest crop is regarded as a 
sure and safe one, and rarely lails of a fine yii'ld. The farmer sows with an as- 
surance of reaping a good return, which he could feel in uo other State, except 
perhaps Wisconsin and Northwestern iVlichigan, which belong to the same great 
wheat belt as Minnesota. 

COMPARISON WITH OTHER STATKS. 

The wheat crop of Minnesota is not only more certain than that of Ohio, 
Illinois, Iowa, and other great wheat, growing States, but the yield is greater 
than the best of them. The average wheat-yield of Minnesota has been put 
down at 20 bushels to the acre ; iu'some counties, the yield was 25. The aver- 
age wheat-yield of the rich prairies of Illinois, owing to uncertainty of the crop 
perhaps, was stated as not over 8 bushels per acre, by Abraham Lincoln, in an 
address before the Wisconsin State Fair of 18^'9. The average yield of Iowa 
is not over 12 busliels; that of Ohio and Pennsylvania will not exceed 10. The 
average yield of Iowa in 1859, was 4 bushels ; that of Minnesota for the same 
year was 19. In 1850, the four States producing the largest average yield, were 
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas and Florida ; this did not exceed 15 bushels, 
while the other States averaged only from 5 to 12. The largest known yield of 
other States, as compared with the average of Minnesota, is as follows : 

Year. Bush, per acre. Tear. Bush, per acre. 

Minnesota, - - - 18G0 22 Michigan, - - - 1848 19 

Ohio, 1850 17.3 Massachusetts, - - 1849 16 

In the face of these facts, we nt -" have no hesitancy in pronouncing Minne- 
sota the banner wheat State of th( ouu>n. Spring wheat is principally sown 
but winter wheat does equally well, I believe. 

Colli. — Many newspapers in States south of us have asserted that Minnesota 
is too cold for corn. But this is not so ; though not so much of a staple pro- 
duct as wheat, corn grows well in Vlinnesota, and the yield compares favorably 
with that of the best corn States. When stock, especially hogs, are raised to a 
greater extent than at present iu the State, the corn crop must eventually become 
an important one to our farmers. 'Ihe average corn yield of Minnesota in 1859, 
a bud year, was 20 bushels; I860, 35 J ; Istio, 43^ ; the average may be set 
down at 35 bushels per acre ; that of Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky at 20 ; that 
of Iowa, just south of us, 23. The average yield in 1859, was 26 bushels, 11 
per ceut higher than that of Iowa for the same year. 

In 1860 our average, as shown by the census record, was greater than any 
Middle or Northweiteru State excep't Ohio, and the yield of 1868 will be found 
equally satisfactory. 

"This strikingly confirms the law already noticed, that the cultivated plants 
yield their greatest products near the northernmost limits of their respective 
growth." 

Oats. — T'je superiority of our climate and soil in the production of the 
cereals is 'aowhere more strikingly manifested than in the inferior classes of these 
grains." Iu 1859, the average yield of this crop was 33 bushels to the acre ; 
in 1860/^ it was 42 ; in 1865, the yield was 51 J bushels. I have uo means of 
comp aring these results with the yiVld of other States, but doubt not but that the 
com purii^on would be a favorable as that of wheat and corn. 

J/iije, Barley and Buckwheat, like the other small grains, do exceedingly well 

/ Minnesota. Mr. Wheelock in the valnal)le P.eport i-eferred to, says : 

The climatic influences which give the wheat of Minnesota its recognized 
superiority of grain, are especially marked in the quality of our barley. 'I'his is 
beginning to be so generally recognized, that it is already exported iu consider- 



24 MINNESOTA : 

able quantities to supply breweries in the Middle States." The average yield per 
acre of these grains for three years were as follows : 

1859. I860. 1862. 1865. 

Eye, - - - - 19.4 21.56 24.00 

Barley, ... - 29.1 33.23 34.00 37.50 
Buckwheat, - . - 6.5 l.i.73 26.00 

Potatoes. — "The superior flavor and the rich farinaceous quality of the pota- 
toes of Miuuesota, afford au apt illustration of the principle maintained by iJr. 
Forry, that the cultivated plants come to perfection only near the uothern limits 
of their growth. In the south, the potatoe, in common with other tuberous and 
bulbous plants, with beets, turnips, and other garden roots, is scarcely fit for 
human food. 'A forcing sun,' says Dr. Forry, ' brings the potatoe to fructifica- 
tion before the roots have had time to attain their proper size, or ripen into the 
qualities proper for nourishment.' Minnesota, at the West, reproduces the best 
northern samples of this delicious esculent, in characteristic perfection. From 
their farina and flavor, the potatoes of Minnesota are already held in considerable 
esteem as a table delicacy in the States below us, and a market is rapidly grow- 
ing up for them throughout the States of the Mississippi Valley, as is indicated 
by increasing exports." — J. A. IVheelock. 

Sorghum. — But little attention has been paid to this crop in Minnesota. It 
is evidently adapted to a warmer climate, but planted early, on our i ich soil, it 
will grow and produce equal to any place in the world, 'i'he average yield from 
very imperfect returns, has been set at down 72^ gallons ; but "some instances 
are reported where a product of 200 and even 300 gallons has been obtained 
from one acre," says JVli. Wheelock : and there is no doubt but that the average 
yield may be safely estimated at fiom 100 to 150 gallons p^-r acre. 

Maple Sugar. — The sugar maple is found plentifully in the timbered part of 
the State. A product of 370,947 pounds of niajile sugar, was reported for 1860. 

Hay. — Timothy and clover flourish in M^'-' ,■" vtota ; in fact, white clover, red 
top, and blue grass seem indigenous to the ;il, and speedily cover any land 
pastured much. The tame grasses are but littw cultivated on this account ; the 
luxuriant growth of the native grasses, which cover the "immense surface of 
natural meadow land formed by the alluvial bottoms of the intricate network of 
streams which eveiy where intersect the country," and which "are as rich and 
nutricious in this latitude as the best exotic varieties," render cultivation unne- 
cessary. The average yield of these grasses is 2.12 tons per acre, 60 per cent, 
greater thau that of the great hay State of Ohio, which, according to the Com. 
of Statistics of that State, is 1^ tons per acre. 

Thn lint plants. Flax, Hemp, ^'C, as they come to perfection only in a cool 
climate, do extremely well in Alinnesota. Their bark, in southern climates, is- 
harsh and brittle, Ijecause the plant is forced into maturity so rapidly that the 
lint does not acquire either consistency or tenacity. Minaesota is equal for flax 
and hemp growth to Northern Europe. 

Onions, Turnips, Parsnips, Carrots, Beets, and nearly all bilbous plants, do 
equally as well as the potatoe. 

iSiveet Potatoes. — Uur loamy, warm sandy soil is just the thing for it, but our 
seasons are rather short ; planted early however, it yields a goou crop. 

Turnips, Rutahagoes, and Beeis often attain a great size. 

The ISalad Plants. — Cabbages, lettuces, endive, celeiy, spiuach — plants whose 
leaves only are eaten — are not ouly more tender here than in warm climates, 
where the relaxing sun lays open their very buds, and renders their leavcL-i thin 
and tough, but are more nutricious, because their growth is slow and their 
juic'fjs well digested. 

Melons, although they come in rather late, instead of throwing too much (>f 
their growth into tlie vine, as they do south, attain a large size, and a rich sac- 
charine and oromatic flavor. This is especially true of the Cautelope melon, 
which in warnipr climates has its sides baked or rots before it is fully matured. 

Pumpkins, Squasli, «j?'C., on the same principle, fully mature, and grow verj 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 25- 

fine anil larije. The Hubbard variety requires early planting, say first of May. 

Bedns, Peas, t|*c., of every vari''ty, are tine and prolific. Rliubarb, or Pie 
Plant, flourishes without cultivation. 

Tlie Hop Culture does not pay at present i)rices. 

Perhaps in no State in the Union does tiie soil so surely and amply reward la- 
bor, or yield larger products for the amount of labor bestowed on it. It is easily 
cleared of weeds, and once clean, its warm forcin;^ nature enables the crop to 
speedily outstrip all noxious growths. Two good thorough worl<ings usually in- 
sures a good growth of almost any cultivated crop. 

BEES — A CORRECTION". 

In my pamphlet issued January, 1867, the Hee business was spoken of as pay- 
ing well in Minnesota. That year did not sustain tlie statement, and in the 
1868 issue, Bees were omitted. Now, in January, 1869, all testify to the paying 
results of the Bee business last year, and if not pressed for room I would re- 
store the 1867 article. 

FRUITS. 

The year 1868 has more than confirni'^d all tliat has heretofore been stated in 
this pamphlet as to fruit growing. With the progress now making here in 
Grape culture, Minnesota will soon do her share toward protluciug the pure 
wiuestliat are to drive from us the mixed and poisonous drinks now in use. * 

JipplcF, cj'c. — An impression seems to prevail abroad that we caimot raise 
fruit in Minne.sota, — "an extraordinary inference," says Wheelock, "when we 
consider that many forms of wild fruit are indigenous to the country." Our cli- 
mate is evidently not so well adapted to fruit-raising as that of some other States 
south of us. Still, sufficient of most kinds may be raised to supply the home 
demand. It has been demonstrated that many varieties of apples do well here, 
and there are now several bearing orchards in the vicinity of Minneapolis, Wi- 
nona, St. Paul, Red Wing, Owatona, Rochester, Maukato, and other poitions of 
the State. The specimens of Minnesota apples at the State fair of 1 860, were 
equal in size and Havor to the same varieties elsewhere produced. It is not the 
severity of the winter that kills the tree, but the alternate thawing and fret zing 
of the south side of the tree in the spring, which is avoided by mulchins', and 
proti^cting the stem of the tree when young, by a wrapping of straw. The State 
being new, time sufficient for planting and acclimating orchards, has not elapsed; 
but tliere is no longer any doubt of our ability to raise fine apple orchards. 
Dwarf cherry and peach trees, which are easily protected in winter, do well, but 
the larger varieties are too tender. However, cherries may yet succeed, as the 
wild variety is a native of the soil. Apples grow well iu Wisconsin, right along 
side of us; iu Canatla and New-Kugkiid, north of us. The inference is clear 
that by procuring our trees north of us, (not south, as has heretofore been the 
practice) or planting the .seeds and thus acclimating them, or hy grafting on to 
the stock of the Sil)erian crab, which is remarkably healthy and hardy, and flour- 
ishes here through the coldest winters without protection, we may raise all the 
apples we wish. There are several flourishing nurseries near Winona, Red 
Wing, St, Paul, Minneapolis, Austin, Rochester, Faribault, MankatOj and other 
portions of the State. '1 he exhibition at the State Fair, 1st October, 18^8, wa s a 
gratifying surprise. 

Crab Jipples. — The wild crab apple tree is indigenous to the soil, improves 
much by cultivation, and furnishes an excellent stock for grafting, but inferior to 
tlie Siberian Crab, which is equally hardy, and furnishes an excellent apple for 
preserving. Some varieties approach a hen's e\r;o^ in siz•^ and are qijite palatable. 

Strawberries. — Every variety of this excellent fruit does well here, attaining 
a size and flavor unsurpassed. Wild ones till the woods and prairies every year. 

Grapes. — 'I'he diflorent varieties succeed well here, and several varieties of the 
wild grape vine grow luxuriantly all over the State. The cultivated varieties, 
while young, require to be laid down in the fall, and protected by a light cover- 
ing of straw. The nature of our climate and soil would seem to desiffuate Min- 



26 MINNESOTA : 

nesota as a great grape-growing State. The juices of the grape, says Dr. For- 
ry, are best matured for wiue near the northern limit of their growth. On the 
Bhine, iu Hungary, the sides of the Alps, aad other elevated or northern situa- 
tions, the vine is strongest, richest, and most esteemed. The grapes of France 
are more delicious for the table than those of Spain or Madeira, south of it. 
The excess of heat and moisture in the States south aud east of u?, blights 
the grape to such au extent that its culture has been abandoned. The vine, 
however, whether wild or cultivat'^d, grows there luxuriautly. The vinous fer- 
mentation, as well as the pressiag aud distillation of the juice, can also be best 
conducted in a climate comparatively cool. 

Truman M. 3:nith, E^q, of the "St. Paul Gardens and Xursery," has suc- 
ceeded well in a la-ge variety of fruit. He writes me: — " Grapes have always 
done well with me. I have not iu any year failed to have my grapes thoroughly 
ripe before frost; and in 1867, the coldest one on record, I ripened iweuty-sevea 
varieties, and have now, ou this 20th of January, 'Delawares' in good condition, 
by hanging them up in a cool, dry cellar." 

Gooseberries, Currants, and Raspberries, are cultivated extensively through- 
out the State, unsurpassed in flavor, size, and productiveness. They also grow 
wild, iu common with blueberries, wkorlkberries, and both marsh and upright 
cranberries. 

Wild plums, of a great many differeut varieties, some of them very large and 
fine, approximating the peach for domestic purposes, abound iu the neighbor- 
hood of streams, lakes, and moist localities. They improve so much by being 
transplanted and cultivated as to equal any of the tame varieties. Wild cherries 
are also plenty. 

From this list it is apparent that Minnesotians are not likely to suffer for the 
want of fruit. And it may be remarked of all fruits generally grown iu Minne- 
sota, that, owing to the principle announced by Dr. Forry, they attain a perfec- 
tion found only at the northernmost limit of their growth. The pulp is delicate, 
eacchariue, aud of a rich flavor, while they are free from the larvae, gum, knots, 
aiid acerbity of fruit grown further south. The dryness of the atmosphere, as 
well as the Inherent perfection of the fruit, enables us to preserve it for a much 
longei time than can be done in warmer localities. Apples keep much better 
than iu St. Louis or Cincinnati. 

THE GKOWING SEASOJ^" IN^ MrNNESOTA. 

In Minnesota, dviring the growing season, we find all those conditions most 
favorable to agriculture present in a marked degree. Its mean spring tempera- 
ture is 45.6 degrees, which is the same as that of Central Wisconsin, Northern 
Illinois, Northern Ohio, Central aud Southern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 2i 
degrees south of it. Its summer temperature is 70.6 degrees, corresponding 
with that of Middle Illinois aud Ohio, Southern Pennsylvania, Long Island aud 
New Jersey, 5 degrees south of it. 

The season of vegetation in Minnesota, in common with that of the upper belt 
of the temperate zone, is embraced between the first of April aud the first of 
October. Some idea of the average temperature of this period may be obtained, 
by comparing it with the same period iu other localities, whose agricultural capa- 
cities are well known : 

April. May. June. July. August. Sept. 

St. Paul, Minn. - 46.3 59.0 68.4 73.4 70.1 58.9 

Marietta, O., - - - 52.3 61.4 69.6 73.5 70.7 63.6 

€hicago. 111., - - 46.0 56.3 62.7 70.7 68.5 GO.l 

Boston, iVIass., - •• 45.57 57.04 65.57 71.08 69.10 62.78 
It will be observed that the temperature of the growing months in the above 
places is so nearly the same, that the difference can be scarcely appreciable * 

♦ "Minnesota, fvora its Jiif;h northern positiun, has always h;i<i to maintain a certain struggle for 
a just uppreciatio'n against tlie ignorant preconceptions of the majority of people of our days, who 
were educated in the notion that latitude governs climate. It is difiicult to make the New Hamp- 
shire farmer compnliend that St. Anthony Falls, in the latitude of Hanover, has the summer climate 
ofPhiladelphia— or that wheat, which will" scarcely grow in northern New England, thrives on the 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 27 

•"The April of Minnesota is still the April of England, but her May corresponds 
in temperature with the Eiij^'lish June." 

The spring temperature of Ohio, it will he noticed, is greater than that of 
Minnesota, while its suumior temperature is less. 'I'he coolness ot the Minnesota 
spring, and the rapid increase in temperature as summer approaches, is claimed 
as a great advantage, and on this fact the prelection of its grains and other agri- 
-cultural products in a great measure depends. TIk; fact anounced by Dr. Forrey, 
"that the cultivated platits yield the greatest pr iducts near the northernmost 
limits at which they will grow," is explained on the principle that the cool spring 
restrains the growth of the trunk and foliage of tlie plant, and throws the full 
development into the ripening period. "The very warm southern .spring devel- 
ops the juices of the plant too rapidly. They run into the stalk, blade, and 
leaf, to tiie neglect of the seed, and dry away before the fructification becomes 
complete. Our cooler springs reverse this proces.s, restrain the undue luxuriance 
of the stem and leaf, and concentrate the juices in the development of the fruit 
and seed." 

The cereals all attain their most perfect development in northern climates. 
Potatoes and other cultivated roots follow the same law The perfection and 
strength of the grasses in cool and northern regions, and ti\eir power of keeping 
horses and cattle fat without grain, is proverbial. Although the grasses attaia 
sufficient size south, they are forced to a rapid fructitication before they have 
time to elaborate their juices, and consequently contain but -i small proportion 
of nutriment. These facts depend upon the same general la\v. At the same 
time, the products of grain, flour, &c., are manufactured to bettt r advantage in a 
cold climate, as they are preserved from sourness, mustiuess, &c., a longer 
time.* 

Period of Exemption from Frost. — The period of total coemption from 
frost in Minnesota, varies from four to five and a half months, which allows 
ample time for the perfection of all the annual crops, The frost is general- 
ly entirely out of the ground, which is then ready for planting, the last of April 
and first of May. 'J'he first fall of frost takes place with great regularity about 
the middle of September, though sometimes delayed till the middle of October. 
Minnesota is not exposed to late and early frosts more than the Middle and AVest- 
ern States. The peculiar dryness of the air also enables vegetation to resist 
Jight frosts, which in other localities would prove disastrous. This fact is exem- 
plified by the frost of June 4th, 1859, which was general nearly all over the 
United States. In Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, it was universally destructive ; 
ice formed one-third inch thick in Ohio ; but in Minnesota no damage whatever 
was done to field crops. On account of this dryness, the temperature may fall 
considerably below the freezing point at times, without producing frost. The 
dryness of the atmosphere, notwithstanding the abundance of the summer rains, 
is also very important on account of the protection it gives wheat and oats from 
rust, smut, and insects, which often seriously injure the wheat fields of moister 
climates. 

Advantageous Distribution of Rain. — The mean annual fall of rain iu Mia- 
nesota, as set down in Blodget's hyetal charts, is twenty-five inches. It is a 
remarkable fact that the greater part of this moisture is deposited during the 
six growing months, when it is most needed, instead of being wasted in delug- 
ing the land and making winter disagreeable, as in New England and the West- 
ern and Middle States. The following, from the report of the Comnussiouer of 

50th parallel, a thousand miles north of St. Paul. One of the most curious consequences of this ab- 
rupt northera deflection of Hie isothermal lines around the head .'>f the great lake basins, is that St. 
Paul, in latitude 45, is very considerably warmer during the whole si.'c mjiithj of the growing season, 
than Chicago, in latitude ii. 

"It is not a little amusing, upon this showing, to read in the official report of the Illinois Central 
Compmy, and m the Chicago Oemocrat, that "every spring brings down the frost-bitten ami chilled 
Inhabitants of Minnesota, to the mild and genial clime of IlLiaois." — Heport of Commissioner of 
liUUislics. 

*See an article on the "AccUn-ating Principle of i'lants," In tl\e American Journal of Geology, by 
Dr. Porrv. 



Minn. 


Ills. 


Pa, 


Mass. 


19.55 


26.30 


20.94 


23.15- 


5.83 


15.50 


21.40 


23.81 


11.00 


13.20 


11.93 


10.71 


1.92 


7.10 


10.76 


11.85 



28 MINNESOTA : ' 

Str+istics, shows the contrast between Minnesota and the above States, in this 
resjject : 

The six warm and growinsr months, 
The six cold and non producing mouths, 
The tliree snmnier months, 
The three winter months, 

"Now, all the points here brought into comparison have a greater rain fall in 
the whole growing season than Minnesota ; but the summer fall is nearly the 
eame, their superfluous spring and autumn rains, which are unnecessary and eveU' 
injurious to vegetation, making up the difference in the whole quantity for the 
■warm months." 

The excessive autumnal rains in the above States are often very destructive to 
harvests. "The Minuef:;ota farmer reaps as he sows, in the full confidence that 
no untimely tempest will defraud him of the fruits of his labors. In these wet 
climates, in the reeking summer air, agriculture is a perpetual vigil against con- 
eealed enemies." 

CHEAPKIESS OF OPENIN'G FARMS. 

It is a fact worthy of note, that in all places whose growth is unsubstantial, 
the price of land is disproportionately high, while its products are low. But 
in Minnesota, real estate is low, laud is extremely cheap, (owing to the large 
surplus yet unoccupied,) while its products command the first jjrices. Oats, 
corn, potatoes, and in fact nearly all that the farmer raises, find a ready market for 
cash at home. A curious illustratioa of the practical working of this principle 
is that lands purchased at ten dollars per acre are paid for out of the proceeds 
of the frst crop. Take this instance : A gentleman having a farm for sale, 
offered it, with improvements, for S9 per acre. Failing to sell, he leased it, 
receiving one-third of the crop His third uetteil him more than he would have 
realized from the sale of the land. Many such instances could be given. This 
illustrates what bargains may be secured whcie lands an- cheap and the products 
of the soil high. It is but fair to state that the price of wheat this 25th Janu- 
ary, 1869, will not produce such results. 

A mau with a small, but high priced farm in the old States can dispose of it 
tor sufficient to set himself up well in Minnesota, and procure a farm for each of 
his children besides ; and these farms in a few years will be as valuable as the 
■ one in the old State is now. The fortunes made by farmers here within a few- 
years, would scarcely be credited in the older States. 

STATE AGRICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
This efficient organization has contributed largely to the advancement of every 
thing pertaining to farming, stock raising and the other varied interests of 
our young State. The annual State Fair each year increases in extent of the 
exibitions — the numbers in attendance, and the dispo-*ition manifested on the 
part of our people to not be behind any body or any State in this respect. Gen. 
Alexander Chambers of Owatonna, is President, and Hon. Charles H. Clark of 
Minneapolis, Secretary. 



THE CLIMATE OF MESHSTESOTA. 

UNPARALLELED HEALTHFULNESS EXEMPTION FROM PULMONARY AND MALARIOUS 

DISEASES — CAUSES OF ITS SALUBRITY — DRYNESS AND PURITY OF THE AIB 

TEMPKRATURE AS COMPARED WITH OTHER STATES — AS A RESORT FOR INVALIDS, 

AC, AC. 

The assertion that the climate of Minnesota is one of the healthiest in the 
world, may be broadly and confidently made. It is sustained by the almost 
unanimous testimonv of the thousands of invalids who hiive sought its pure and 
bracing air, and recovered from consumption and other dis( ases after they had becE 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS.' 29 

^iven up as hopeless by their home physicians ; it is sustained by the experience 
of its inhabitants for twenty years ; and it is sustained by the published statis- 
tics of mortality in the dill'ereut States. The eiuiueut Ur. Horace Businiell, Oi 
Hartford, Conn., after spending a year in Cuba and another in California, with- 
out any permanent benefit, spent a year in Minnesota, and recovered. After 
returning East and submitting to a rigid examination, his physicians said : " \ ou 
bave had a difficulty in the right lung, but it is healed." In a published letter 
be says :— "1 have known oi very remarkable cases of recovery there which had 
seemed to be hopeless. One, of a gentleman who was carried ashore on a litter, 
and became a hearty, robust man. Anotb(!r who told me he had even coughed 
up bits of his lung of the size of a walnut, was then, seven or eight months 
after, a perfectly sound-looking, well-set man, with no cough at all. I fell in 
with somebody every few days who had come there and been restored ; and with 
multitudes of otlicr»' whose disease has been arrested, so as to allow the prose- 
cution of business, and whose lease of life, as they had no doubt, was much 
lengthened l)y their migration to that region of the country." 

Many of our most jjromineut business men, whom no one would now take for 
invalids, belong to the above class. Almost any one who has resided here for 
any length of time can refer to luimbers, now enjoying ordinary health, who on 
first coming here were considered hopelessly gone with consumption, or other 
chronic disease. It is believed consumption is never generated here, which is a 
strong proof that the climate is a favorable one for those afflicted with the disease. 
Mmuesota is entirely exeni])t from malaria, and consequently the numerous 
diseases known to arise from it, such as chills and fever, autunmal fevers, ague 
cake or enlarged spleen, enlargement of the liver, &c., dropsy, diseases of the 
kidneys, affections of the eye, and various billious diseases, a':d derangements of 
the stomach and bowc^ls, although sometimes arising from other causes, are ofteu 
due wholly to malarious agency, and are only temporarily relieved by medicine, 
because the patient is constantly exposed to the malarious influence which gen- 
erates tliem. Enlargement of the liver and spleen is very common in Southera 
and Southwestern States. We are not only free from those ailments, but by cimt- 
ing to Minnesota, often without any medical treatment at all, patients speedily 
recover from this class of diseases ; the miasmatic poison being soon elinduated 
from the system, and not being exposed to its farther iucejitiou, the functions of 
health are gradually resumed. 

Diarrhea and dysentery are not so prevalent as in warmer latitudes, and are of 
a milder type. Pneumonia and typhoid fever are very seldom met with, and 
then merely as sporadic cases. 

Diseases of an epidemic character never have been known to prevail here. 
" Even that dreadful scourge, di]>theria, which like a destroying angel, swept 
through portions of the country, leaving desolation in its train, passed us by 
with scarce a grave to luark its course. The diseases common to infancy and 
childhood, partake of the same mild character, and seldom prove fatal." This is 
the language of Mrs. Coiburn, an authoress, and the experience of physicians 
corroborates this opinion. 

That dreadful scourge of the human family, the cholera, is alike unknown 
here. During the summer of 18GC, while hundreds were daily cut down by this 
visitation in Xew York, Cin^'iimaii, St. Louis, and other places, and it prevailed 
to an alarming extent in Chicago, —not a single case made its appearance 
in Minnesota. \ 

Another, and a very large class of invalids, which derive great benefit frotu 
the climate of MinnesDta, are those whose systems have become rela.ted, debili 
tated, and broken down, by over-taxation of the mental and physical energiea 
dyspepsia, &c. 

And these facts, establishing as they do the remarkable salubrity of our cli- 
mate, are borne out by statistics. The following table is copied from the U^ii- 
ted States census of 18G0. The perce.itage coiamu exhibits the number of 
deaths in every luO persons ; the last column shows the number, in each State^ 
out of which one person has died : 



30 



MINKESOTA : 





Popula- 
tion. 


Deaths 




■- >-. 

££ 

O 
75 




Popula- 
tion. 


Deaths. 


c . 
1.48 


o 


Alabama, 


904,201 


12,760 


1.32 


Wissouri, 


1,182,012 


17,557 


6T 


Arkansas, 


4.?o,4o() 


8,861' 


2.03 


49 


New Hampshire, 


326073 


4,409 


1.87 


72 


California, 


879,:i94 


3,705 


.97 


102 


New Jtrsej-, 


672,035 


7,525 


1 11 


8& 


Connecftcut, 


400, HT 


6,138 


1.S3 


74 


New York, 


3,880,735 


46,881 


1.20 


82 


Delaware, 


112,21(5 


1,3J6 


1.11 


90 


North Carolina, 


992,622 


12,607 


1.27 


78 


Florida, 


144,425 


1,709 


1 25 


79 


Ohio, 


2,339,511 


24,724 


1.05 


94 


Georgia, - 


1,057.286 


12,8117 


1.21 


82 


Oregon, - 


52,465 


251 


.47 


209 


Illinois, 


1,7! 1,951 


19,263 


1.12 


88 


Pennsylvania, - 


2,906,115 


30,214 


1.03 


96 


Iowa, 


674,913 


7,200 


1.07 


93 


Khode Island, 


174,020 


2,479 


1.41 


70 


lodiana, 


1 ,3r,0,438 


15,2'i5 


1.12 


88 


South Carolina, 


703,708 


9,745 


1.38 


72 


Kansas, - 


11)7,306 


1,443 1 34 


74 


Tennessee, 


1,109,801 


15,170 


1.36 


73 


Kentucky, - 


1,155,684 


16,467 1.44 


70 


Te.\-as, - 


604,215 


9,309 


1 55 


64 


Louisiana, 


70^,002 


12.329 1.74 


57 


Vermn'nt, - 


315,098 


3,355 


1.06 


93 


Maine, - 


628,379 


7,614 1.21 


82 


Virginia, 


1,596,318 


22,474 


1 40 


71 


Maryland, 


687,049 


7,370 1 07 


9J 


Wisconsin, 


775,831 


7,129 


.92 


108 


Massachusetts, 


1,231,063 


21,3(14 1.73 


57 


Dist. of Columbia, 


75,080 


1,275 


1.69 


53 


Miehiiian, 


749,113 


7,899 98 


101 


Ne bra ska J - 


28,841 


381 


1.82 


75 


Minnesota, - 


172,123 


1,109 64 


155 


New Mexico, 


93,516 


1,305 


1 39 


71 


Mississippi, 


791,305 


12,214 1.54 


64i Utah, -■ - 


40,273 


374 


.92 


107 



It will be observed that MinneBota has the smallest mortality of any State in 
the Union, except Oregon. Oregon, though a very healthy clime, is not a resort 
for invalids. Lying on the Pacific coast, its climate, like that of New England, 
is too humid to attract invalid.^. On the contrary, Minnesota is a great resort 
for consumptive invalids, and those laboring under various chronic diseases. 
Of course, some come too late, and die here — probably living a year or so 
longer than they would at home. This swells our mortality list, and taking it 
out, Minnesota would hold a higher place than even Oregon. 

Many letters are received asking what portion of the State is best for invalids. 
My uniform answer is that there is no difference. Persons seek all parts of the 
State for health, and I have never he;ird our people claim any advantage for one 
part over another. The burial record for the city of St. Paul are required by 
law to be kept with much care. There were in the year 1868, according to the 
report of Dr. Mattocks, health officer, 243 deaths, 8 accidental, 15 still born, 
total '26(i, in a population of over 20 OuO. Any other city or town of the State 
■would show as well if records were kept. The St. Paul Pioneer, on this sub- 
ject sakl :— " AVhen we consider that our city is a hospital for invalids, even these 
.figures rob it of its real meed of praise. A very large proportion of the per- 
r^ous dying in this city are strangers, who have come here sick and almost dying, 
to receive the benefits of our salubrious climate, but only to linger a few months 
and then cease the struggle. The city is constantly filled with them in all stages 
of disease. Exchiding these (and they should be excluded) from our table of 
mortality, and counting only the deaths in our regular residents, would reduce 
the deaths to It ss than 1 per cent, of the population." 

CAUSES OF THE HEALTHEULNESS OF MIKN:ES0TA. 

However interesting it might be to go into a scientific exposition of the 
causes and theories of the exemption of Minnesota from many of the diseases 
v/hMi annually carry off thousands in tlie older States of America and Europe, 
space will not permit, and 1 must confine myself to such facts as are already es- 
tablished beyond cavil or dis])ate. 

Absence of Malaria. — A large proportion of the diseases which afflict man- 
fcind have their origin in the poisonous and unhealthy emanations which arise 
ii-om the earth. These emanations embody a subtle principle termed vialaria, 
which is constantly rising, like an imperceptible gas, poisoning the air, and gen- 
erating disease, chills and fever, different kinds of fever, pneumonia, diarrhea, 
dvsentery, debility, biliousne>:s, diseases of the liver, spleen, kidneys, &c. The 
low temperature of our winters, continuing a.s they do for four mouths, effectually 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 31 

d'stroys any makria that might lurk ia the S)il, ready lo spring forth in warm 
wetither. ■ 

We are thus entirely free from malaria, and the fa"t i.s well e.c;tal)lished that 
chills and fever, -and diseases generally, of a malarious origin, are entirely un- 
knowQ ia Minnesota, and those who come here suffering these ailments speedily 
recover. 

Perturhotion of the Air. — The atmosphere, like large bodies of water, re- 
quires perturbation to presei-ve its purity ; otherwise it becomes heavy and 
stagnant, loaded with impurities and un!)ealthy, depressing the spirits by its mo- 
notony, and inducing a torpid condition of the whole system. The waters of 
the ocean, and of large lakes, are kept pure by the agitation of the winds and 
tides. All healthy countries are windy, but all windy countries are not healthy. 
AVinds blowing fvtr many days in succession from one quarter, become pregnant 
with moisture and other impurities. The winds in Minnesota are not persistent 
and severe, but constitute rather a lively agitation of the air, which constantly 
changes it, carrying of!" no.xious vapors and effluvia, conducing to its clearness 
and purity, and imjiarting to it those qualities which give tone to the system 
and invigorate the nutritive functions. 

The prevailing direction of our winds is from the south, according to obser- 
Tatious, extending over twelve years, recorded in the U. S. Army meteorologi- 
cal register "This fact," says Mr. Wheelock, " goes far toward accounting for 
the exceptional warmth of the spring and summer mouths in Minnesota, and 
serves to show that the direction of currents of air exerts an influence only less 
than the po.sition in latitude in forming the measure of heat and cold." Our 
wind.s, instead of passing over the ocean, laden, like those dreaded "east winds" 
of New England and the Atlantic coast generally, with saline moisture, come to 
BS only after traversing half a continent of land, pure and invigorating. 

A comparison of the mean force of the wind for ten years, at different places, 
gives the following result : Fort Snelling, Minnesota, 1.87 ; New London, Con- 
necticut, 2.67 ; New York city, 2.96 ; Eastport, Maine, 2.63 ; Portsmouth, 
N. II., 2.50 ; Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. 2.20 ; Detroit, Michigan, 2.26 ; Fort 
Atkinson, Iowa, 2.48 ; Fort Leavenworth, \ansas, 2.09. AVe thus perceive that 
the mexn force of the wind in Minnesota is less than at e'ther of the other places, 
n^presenti ng, as they do. all sections of the Union excpt the South, and con- 
firms tlie statement previously made, that our winds are lively agitations of the 
air, rather than strong, continuous currents. As a consequence, the snows drift 
less than in the East, and usually lie without material disturbance. 

The following table, from the report of the Commissioner of Statistics, gives 
a synopsis of the climate of .Minnesota for the whole year, from which it will be 
seen that a more perfect harmony between the three great fundamental condi- 
tions of climate than is here displayed, could be found no where on earth : 





OS 


£ 


g 


< 


S 


3 


3 
>-> 


< 


OQ 


U W V 

o s; o 


Mean Temp'ture — degs. 


1.3 7 


17.6 


31.4 


46.3 


59.0 


68.4 


7.3.4 


70.1 


•os.g 


47.1 81.7 16.9 


Rain — inches, - - - 


0.7 


0.5 


1.8 


2.1 


82 


8.6 


4.1 


8.2 


3.3 


1.4 1.3 0.7 


Prevailing Winds — 


N.E. 


N.W. 


N.W. 


N.W. 


8.E. 


S.E. 


S.E. 


S.E. 


S.E. 


N. N.E. 


Courses, . . - - 


to 


to 


to 


to 


to 


to 


to 


to 


to 


S. to to 




N.W. 


S.W. 


S.W. 


S.W. 


S.W. 


S.W. 


S.W. 


S.W. 


S.W. 


N.W. N.W. 



Dryness of the Air. — Another great cause of the salubrity of our climate is 
the marked dryness of the air. .Moisture is a powerful agent in generating dis- 
ea.-<e. It is the main vehicle of malaria and other atmospheric poisons. They 
cling to it, or it holds them in solution. It is through the watery vapor of the 
atmospiiere that most morbific agents reach the human body. While an atmos- 
phere which is too dry, like that of arid plains and sandy deserts, is unhealthy, 
engendering over-action, fever, and debility, that which contains an e.xcess of 
moisture is still more so. A humid climate rapidly abstracts the natural warmth 
of the body, and lowers the vitality of the system, producing feeble action and 
poor nutrition as a consequence, thus rendering the system open to attacks of 
iuilumuiations, colds, coughs and consumption, as well as neuralgic and rhuematic 



52 MINNESOTA : 

affections. Oold, however intense, is not so perceptible if t^ie air is dry. For 
example : wet one hand ; hold it and the dry one in tne cold for a few minutes. 
A damp air penetrates and chills, drives the blood inwards, and shrinks and 
wrinkles up the skin. A cold, dry air, like ours, is tonic, exhilarating, and 
strengthening. It has not the feverish heat of the desert, nor yet the humid 
chilliness of the coast. This dryness further conduces to its purity. It is pure 
air, such as God intended to be breathed, oxygenating and ])urifying the blood, 
and exerting a tonic influence on the whole organism. It is free from the thou- 
sand and one impurities held in suspension by the excess of moisture prevalent 
in the wet climates of southern and western States, and in New England. It is 
fall of electricity, and rich in the life-giving principle termed ozone, never found 
in impure air. 

Te.mperaturk of Minn'esota — Compared with other States — Errors repect- 
ing our Winters — Secret of the Salubrity of our Climate. — The popular im- 
pression that the further north you go the colder it gets, is an erroneous one. 
The rule is open to many exceptions. The configuration of the earth is such, 
that owing to mountain ranges, vast sandy plains, large inland bodies of water, 
&c., the isothermal, or heat lines, are deflected several degrees north or south, 
thus giving places a thousand miles apart the same tcmjjerature. Thus places 
in the same latitude of the Saskatchewan river, (latitude 5P X.) enjoy the 
same annual mean temperature as j)laces in the latitade of Fort Union (latitude 
37° N.) a thousand miles south of it. Minnesota, owing to the large lakes east 
and north of it, and the vast arid plains, extending from latitude 35° to latitude 
47° west of it, enjoys a mean spring temperature of 45°, warmer than Chicago 
2i° south of it, and equal to Southern Michigan, Central Xew York, and Massa- 
chusetts ; a summer nn^au of 7U°, equal to (Central New York, Central Wisconsin, 
Northern Pennsylvania, and Northern Ohio, four degrees south of us ; un autum- 
nal mean of 45°, equal to New Hampshire, Central Wisconsin and Central iMich- 
igan, 2h° south ol' us ; a winter mean of 16°, similar to Northern Wisconsin, 
Nothern Michigan, Central Vermont and New Hampshire, on the same line of 
latitude, but nearer the ocean ; while its climate, for the entire year, being a mean 
of 45°, is similar to that of Central Wisconsin, New Hamjjshire, and Central -s'ew 
York, two degrees south of it. VV^e thus have an annual range of temperature 
from thp summer of Southern Ohio to tlie winter of Montreal. 

Referring to the above contrasts of climate, Mr. J. Disturuell, in a paper read 
before the American Geographical and Statistical Society of New York, says : 
"This remarkable fact can only be accounted for on the presumption that >liu- 
nesota receives its favorable climatic inflence as regards health and growth of 
vegetation, from secret laws of nature, yet to be discovered." 

But the veil which covers these natural laws is easily drawn aside. The luxu- 
riant growth of her vegetation, large yields of cereals, tic, as we have seen, are 
accounted for by her warm, rich soil, forcing summer sun and timely rains, while 
the secret of the salubrity of her climate is found in the dryness and consequent 
purity of our atmosphere, combined with all the advantages of a rugged, delight- 
ful land, charming seasons, lovely and magnificeut scenery. 

That the dryness of our air is real, we have many evidences. Meat hung up, 
even in moderately warm weather, dries up before it spoils. AVagons, barrels, 
&c., if left idle a short time, drop to pieces. The hygrometer, an instrument for 
determining the moisture in the air, shows our air to be very dry, generally. The 
hyetal, or rain charts, in Blodget's "Climatology of the United States," shows the 
remarkable fact that Minnesota is the dryest State iu the Union, an<l at the same 
time the best watered, on account of its many lakes and streams, and free from 
drouths. Lying, as it does, between a vast arid belt on its west side, extending 
through twenty-five degrees, and a large humid belt of equal length on its east 
side, it enjoys a happy medium. The mean annual deposit of moisture ii\ Min- 
nesota is 25 inches ; Wisconsin 30 to 40 ; Iowa 25 to 42 ; Indiana, Illinois, 
Ohio, Missouri, 42 to 48 ; Kentucky, Tennessee, 50 ; Cannada, 34 to 36 ; New 
England and New Y''ork, 32 to 45 ; Pennsylvania, 36 ; Arkansas, Louisiana, 
Alabama, and Mississippi, 55 to 63 ; Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, 40 to 42. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 33 

Errors respecting our Winters. — No region which at present engages the 
pnblic miiul, as a field for settlement, has been so grossly misrepresented, in re- 
gard to peculiarities of climate, as Minnesota. Fabulous accounts of its arctic 
temperature, piercing winds, and accompanying snows of enormous depth, em- 
belish the columns of the eastern press. — JVfill's History of Minnesota. 

We have seen that such impressions are erroneous — that our climate com- 
pares favorably in all respects with that of many other densely populated States. 
Disinterested authorities, that cannot be questioned, have set this matter at rest 
long since, and it only remains to enlighten the public respecting the truth. 
However repugnant to popular prejudice it may seem, our winter fall of snow 
and rain is only one fifth that of New York and New England ; the average de- 
posit of moisture in those places for the winter being ten inches — that of Minne- 
sota two inches. — See Blodget's Climatology, ^c. page 342. 

The great buliv of our water falls during the six growing mouths, in the form 
of refreshing showers, which cool the air and encourage vegetation, leaving our 
winters dry, crisp, and bracing — much easier to endure than the same amount of 
cold in a damp climate. 

MINNESOTA AS A EESORT FOR INVALIDS. 

Ever since consumption has been known, a change of climate has been re- 
commended by physicians as a means of arresting a disease which medicine can- 
not cure. Until within the past few years, it has been customary to send con- 
sumptives to southern latitudes. But medical opinion, influenced no doubt, by 
the poor success attending this plan, has undergone a change, and as usual, gone 
from one extreme to another. Climates of a mild, equable temperature are no 
longer sought ; patients are now sent almost invariably to dry, cool, northern 
climates, where the air is subject to considerable perturbation. 

There are many places which are, or have once been celebrated resorts for coa- 
sumptive invalids — Maderia, Ventnor, Torquay, Cuba, Florida, Algiers, Upper 
Egypt, &c. Many bf these are now known to be positively injurious to this 
class of patients, and have been abandoned. Among them all, there are very 
few, even if harmless, that possesses any advantage. So unsatisfactory has been 
the result of change of climate that many eminent physicians no longer advise 
their patients to try it, beliviug that they stand about as good a chance to 
recover at home. The fact that the disease is quite common in all of these places 
of refuge, leads us to the conclusion that the benefit derived from them in such 
cases, if any, is due to the mere change of climate rather than to any special 
influence arising from the localities themselves.* The supposition that a warm 
climate, or even a cold one possessing an equable temperature, free from sudden 
changes, is required by consumptives, is evidently an erroneous one. Ur. Law- 
son, the author of one of the ablest works on this disease which has ever been 
published in any language, says : "In order to promote health, the atmosphere 
should be subject to some degree of perturbation, and even rapid changes, pro- 
vided those variations are not great or extreme. The steppe of Kirghis, where 
consumption is almost unknown, is remarkable for its rapid changes, and even 
severe winds."' Again : "In these early stages of phthisis, patients are already 
beginning to feel the depressing effects of disease, and therefore, require all those 
influences, hygienic and medicinal, which impart tone to the system, and thereby 
invigorate tbe nutritive functions. It cannot be presumed, however, that a mild 
and equable atmosphere will produce this result ; on the contary, the very mo- 
notony of the atmosphere must lead to depression, and thereby increase the de- 
bility." Of warm climates, he says.- "A very warm, stagnant and moist atmos- 
phere, with but little elevation, would manifestly prove injurious, and there is 
suihcient ground to justil'y the conclusion that where the disease is far advanced, 
tropical regions are nnlavorable." " We have abundant testimony to prove 
that when the disease has become established, and the system debilitated, but 

♦ A Practical Treatise on Phthisis Pulmonalis," by L. M. Lawson, CincLanati, 1861. 
3 



34 MINNESOTA : 

little good can be derived from warm regions, while, oa the contrary, great in- 
jury will often remit." M. Rochard, another medical writer, refers to the fact 
that " tuberculosis marches with greater rapidity in the torrid zone than in 
Europe." 

I have searched through a vast amount of medical authority, and digested nu- 
merous tables of statistics. The conclusion I arrive at is, that the only class of 
consumotives benefitted at all by warm, equable regions, are those in the very 
incipient stages ; that the benefit in such cases is due more to the change than 
anything else ; and that the same class of patients would be benefitted to a stiU 
greater degree by a dry, cool, elastic atmosphere, such as we have in Minnesota, 
and in parts of New Mexico and California. 

Dr. Chas. A. Leas, United States consul at Madeira, who has resided in Rus- 
sia, Sweden, Central America, and Madeira, in the service of the government, 
under date of September 10th, 1866, writes : "I have made the subject of cli- 
mate, as a curative agent in consumption, a special study, and in connection with 
my annual report to the State Department at Washington — ^just now sent on — 
I have entered somewhat into detail upon that subject, and have endeavored to 
show, from observation, that consumption, in its earlier stages, is best relieved 
by a visit to, and residence of greater or less extent in, high northern latitudes, 
instead of warm climates, as is the usual custom. I have further suggested Min- 
nesota as one of the finest climates for that purpose." 

In the report above alluded to. Dr. Leas accounts for the superior advantages 
of a high, diy, cool latitude, in tubercular diseases, on the theory that the lungs, 
in health, are only sufficiently capacious to "admit air enough to purify, through 
its oxygen, the whole of the blood ; in proportion as the air thus breathed is 
contaminated, or mixed with moisture and other impurities, so will the amount 
of oxygen admitted into the lungs at any time, be diminished in quantity, and to 
the same extent, a portion of the vital fluid unoxygenized," giving rise to a di- 
minished vitality, and thus laying the groundwork "for the development of con- 
Bumption, under causes favorable to such a result." The atmosphere in high 
northern latitudes, is much purer than that of warm countries, on account of the 
precipitation of its excess of moisture by the cold, "thus giving a larger amount 
of oxygen, which is the great vivifying element in a given amount of air, and 
thus again enabling the lungs to more thoroughly purify the entire volume of 
blood. And more particularly are the lungs thus aided when a portion of their 
substance is thrown out of action from the actual deposition of tubercular mat- 
ter. Besides all that, the frequence of such a large amount of pure atuwsphere 
to the circulating fluid, has a decidedly tonic and invigorating effect upon that 
element, and through it the whole system. * * * * _^ii(j 

for such an atmosphere as is here indicated, I would suggest to invalids affected 
with pulmonary disease, that they are most likely to find it in Minnesota." 

The fact is worthy oC note, that this communication comes from Madeira, an 
island which has been termed " the city of refuge " for consumptives. But the 
testimony of Dr. Mason, and the statistics of Dr. Renton, prove that it is only 
those in the very incipient stages thathave been benefitted there. Of forty-seven 
confirmed consumptives who lauded there, not one lived six mouths ! And yet 
Madeira has the mo. t equable climate in the world, — the temperatm-e 
never varying over eleven degrees the year around, — never higher than 74 de- 
grees, nor lower than 63 degrees. With a warm, basaltic soil, protection from 
winds, perennial summer, and tropical luxui-iauce, it would seem to be the con- 
sumptive's paradise ; but such is not the case. The reason is simply that the air 
is too stagnant, and wants life and perturbation ; and the air is too moist, expe- 
rience proving that consumptives require an air sufficiently moist to prevent ir- 
ritation of the air passages, but at the same time dry, elastic, pure, and iuvigorar 
ting. A little wind, therefore, does no harm, while the experience of ages has 
at length established the fact, beyond peradventure, that those countries most 
favorable to consumptives, as the steppe of Kirghis, New Mexico, Minnesota 
and California, are remarkable for the dryness aud purity of their air, and are 
subject to occasional changes of temperature, as well as winds. Another fact 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 35 

worthy of special meutioa is, thiit the disease is seldom ever generated in those 
countries. 

As compared with the other places nieiitinned, Minnesota takes the palm from 
them all. While some portions of California, and of the Pacific coast j^eneral- 
ly, are favorable retreats, others are less so. The mountains are rather cold and 
harsh — the valleys too stagnant and moist. The country about Sacramento aud 
the interior of the State is the most favorable ; but even hero, according to Dr. 
Hatch, of Sacramento, although the atmosphere is quite dry, it is very sul)jectto 
abrupt changes, aud extreme vicissitudes of temperature. The same is true of 
that portion of New Mexico and Texas, best adapted to comsumptives — those 
fierce "northers," to which they are subject, often causing a change of tempera- 
ture of 50 or 60 degrees in a few hours, and reudereng winter clothing very ac- 
ceptable. And yet Dr. Law sou says : "It is extremely probable, if not posi- 
tively certain, that the territory known as New Mexico, embracing Santa Pe, is 
more favorable to consumptives than any point on the American continent, if 
not in the civilized world." Minnesota, at the time this was written, although 
even then a great resort for consumptives, had not become known to the slow 
Pegasus of the medical muse. Drs. (^regg aud Hammond, in their accounts of 
the climate, show it to be very similar to, but inferior to that of Minnesota. It 
is dryer — rather too dry — increasing the bronchial irritation and dyspepsia, aris- 
ing from inflammatory action of the mucous membrauce of the stomach, and in- 
flammation of the lungs. The climate is more changeable than ours, and subject 
to severer currents of wind. With these exceptions, the climate is very similar 
to ours. The air is dry and pure, and "persons withered almost to mummies 
are to be occasionally encountered, whose extraordinary age is only to be in- 
ferred from their recollection of certain notable events, which had taken place in 
times far remote." 

Yet we have in Minnesota a climate superior as a resort for invalids, to even 
New Mexico. We have never had any epidemic of typhoid or other fevers, 
but owing to its wanner climate (its yearly mean being 50° 6) New Mexico is 
somewhat subject to this class of disease. The lyphoid fever raged there as an 
epidemic from 1837 to 1839. Our winds, instead being strong, cold, and con- 
tinued currents, constitute rather a lively agitation, or perturbation of the air ; 
and finally, Minnesota is as accessible by railroad and steamers as Chicago, while 
in New Mexico, Dr. Lawson says that "the difficulty of access, as well as the 
want of accommodations, aud the character of the population, (Indians and 
hunters, or " rangers,") will for a long period, deter even those who have suffi- 
cient physical ability, from visiting the couutry." 

The conclusion is thus forcibly impressed upon us, that for invalids, as well as 
for every class of inhabitants required to populate a State, Minnesota is superior 
as a place of settlement to any region in the world." 

Without asserting that all persons afflicted with pulmonary disease will in- 
variable recover in Minnesota, it may be safely claimed that no climate under 
heaven offers equal advantages to this class of invalids. While it is undoubted- 
ly true that a larger percentage of those in the early stages of the disease will 
recover, there can be no doubt but that those iu the second aud third stages often 
get well here. No physician can foretell the result of a trial. The only method 
of deciding the question is by actual residence. There are those here, whom no 
one would take to be consumptives, who have had but one lung for over ten 
years, ilany come too late, or coming in time, continue here the over-taxatiou 
of mind or body, or other unhealthy habits, which first broke them down. Their 
friends blame the climate, if they fail to recover ; but the fact is well established, 
that any case within the reach of climatic influence, will get well here, if any- 
where. Another fact equally well established, is that a permanent residence 
here is better, in order to render the cure permanent. Many instances miglit be 
cited, where invalids, after spending a year or so here, and apparently got well, 
have gone East and died of the disease ; of others, experiencing a return of the 
old symptoms, and making a second recovery after returning to Minnesota. 
Mauy cades, however, are cured, or greatly benefitted, by a sojourn of a few 



36 MrsnsrESOTA : 

months. Sometimes years are required to effect a complete cure. It is better 
for all desiring to secure the benefits of our climate, to cut loose from all busi- 
ness relations where they reside, take up their abode, and go into business here, 
as a resident has much better chances of recovery than a visitor, who is de- 
prived of /io?ne cohi/o/-<s and associations. Seasons vary, more or less, every- 
where. Some are more favorable than others, but taken one year with another, 
Minnesota, as a sanitarium, will be found all that it is represented to ba 

St. Paul, Minn., Feb. 4, 1868. 

Dkar Sir: — Tour letter of February 8d, 1PG8, has been received. An obser- 
vation of nearly eleven years enables me to assure you that in your pamphlet 
you have not over-estimated the wonderful salubrity of this climate. 

In many pulmonary affections the air seems directly curative, and dyspeptics 
will most cer'ainly be benefitted by a residence in this State. The dry, bracing 
atmosphere acts as a stimulant to the digestive organs; while the great changes 
in temperatu;e encourage circulation, and thus carry the rich blood to all parts 
of the body. 

Digestion is that process by which supplies are taken into the blood from the 
alimentary canal: and it has been well said that when you have plenty of good 
air, and a good digestion, scrofula and consumption will be unknown. The pure 
air we have — and it is now well understood by physicians, that our citizens eat 
and digest the rich, animal food so abundant here, with much less call for high 
seasoning and for stimulating sauce, than they have been used to require else- 
where. 

The effect of the dry, cold air in relieving congestion of the liver is also remarka- 
ble; and hundreds here who came from the South and West broken down by 
malarial fevers, can testify to the rapidity with which they have recovered their 
health and strength. Youis respectfully, 

D . W. HAND.M.D. 
G. Hewitt, Esq. 

MIN^^SOTA SCENERY — EESOETS FOR TOURISTS. 

The scenery of Minnesota has attracted the attention of many writers, paint- 
ers and poets, and elicited eulogies in prose and verse, ever since the first whit© 
man stood on the brink of St. Anthony's Falls, or listened to the gleeful splash- 
ings of Minnehaha. The brilliant purity, dryness and elasticity of the air, bring- 
ing every oVjject out with bold, distinct outlines, lends a peculiar charm to the 
lovely scenery which everywhere abounds. The nights, particularly, are serene 
and beautiful beyond description. Prof Maury, author of the "Physical Geo- 
graphy of the Sea,"' says : "At the small hours of night, at dewy eve and early 
morn, 1 have looked out with wonder, love and admiration, upon the steel blue 
sky of Minnesota, set with diamonds and sjiarkling with brilliants of purest ray. 
Herschell has said, that in Europe, the astronomer might consider himself highly 
favored, if by watching the skies for one year, he shall, during that period, find, 
all told, one hundred hours suitable for satisfactory observation. A telescope 
mounted here, in this atmosphere, under the skies of Minnesota, would have its 
poicers increased many limes over what they would be. under canopies less 
brilliant and lovely," and many hundred such hours could be found here within 
that period. 

The State is encircled by lakes and rivers, like the garden of ]*]den, as pic- 
tured by the imagination. In fact, the numerous sti earns :iud lakes of Minneso- 
ta, form one of its characteristic charms, and when it was the habitation of the 
Indians, they showed their appreciation of them by erecting their rude lodges on 
their shady,' pebbly shores. 'I'he larger lakes, with outlets, are from one to thir- 
ty miles in diameter. The smaller class, however, are nnich more numeious, and 
"generally distinguished, also, for their clear, white, sandy shores, set in gentle, 
grassy slopes, or rimmed with walls of rock, their pebbly beaches sparkling with 
cornelians and agates, while the oak grove or the denser wood, which skirts ite 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 37 

amrgin, completes the graceful and picturesque outline." Prof. Maury says : 
"There is in this territory a greater number of these lovely sheets of laughing 
water, than in all the country besides. They give variety and beauty to the 
landscape ; th,ey soften the air, and lend all thinr thousand charms and attrac- 
tions to make this goo'dly laud a lovely place of residence. We see that, with 
these beautiful sheets of water, nature has done for the upper .Nfississippi what 
Ellett proposes should be done by the government for the (.)hio, and what Na- 
poleon ill is doing for the rivers of France." 

These lakes all abound in fish, superior in flavor and quality to those of the 
sluggish streams of the Western States. Many leaping brooks, fed by springs, 
are pure and cold as mountains streams, and abound in speckled trout. To the 
disciples of Izak Walton, Minnesota is a perfect paradise. To one fond of the 
sport, nothing could be more delightful than to drive out to one of these lovely 
sheets of water, spending the heat of the day on their shady shores, and the 
niorniug and evening in a small boat, with rod and tackle In the spring and 
fall these lalces are all covered with ducks and other water fowl, affording rare 
amusement for the sportsman. 

So the tourist who seeks respite from hot pavements, brick walls, and sultry 
cities, relaxation of mind from the cares of business, recreation and recuperation, 
could take up his abode in no more favored spot. Unlike the cramped quarters, 
artificial enjoyments and tiresome excitement of fashionable places of resort, 
like Saratoga or Newport, where the heat, dust, and annoyance of city life, is 
found, without any of its comforts, here the broad fields of primitive nature opens 
■wide to view, and invites him to invade her precincts, invigorating body and 
mind. 

From the first of iVIay until the first of August, fishing is the principal sport. 
Sometimes wild pigeons, which often breed in our woods, may be shot in great 
numbers in June. After the first of August till frost, fowling commences, and 
the gun and dog take the place of hook and tackle. The first of August in 
Minnesota is what the first of Septeml)er is in England, when the game law per- 
mits the shooting of pfairie chickens, pheasants grouse, &c., which abound eve- 
rywhere. The larger game, such as deer, elk, and occasionally a bear or buffalo, 
come in with cold weather, and continue till spring. In the fall and spring, 
duck and geese are found plentifully in every little lake. 

Not only to the moi-e sportsmau does Minnesota offer superior attractions, 
but to theJ;ourist generally, and all who would seek rest, natural repose, and 
quiet enjoyment, in a cool, bracing and healthful climate, surrounded by all the 
pleasant associations of natuie, "uumarred by the rude hand of art." Railroads 
and stage coaches may be taken, and the remotest parts of the State reached by 
easy or rapid stages, as may be preferred. 

GENERAL INFORMATION. 

ANSWERS TO A FEW OP THE THOUSAND QUESTIONS ASKED ME WILL BE FOUND IN THB 
FOLLOWING COMBINATION OF DISJOINTED ITEMS. 

Persons with families should not co'ne here entirely destitute to brave the 
trials and privations of pioneer life. 

Men with means at their command possess, of course, here as elsewhere, great 
advantages. There is, perhaps, no question that money can, on an average, be 
handled to better advantage in a new and thriving Western country, than in the 
old settlements of the East, and Europe. There are opened here a thousand 
avenues into which capital can be profitably turned, and as it promotes the 
growth and development of the State, it adds each day to the security of the in- 
vestment. Those familiar with the commercial, manufacturing and financial 
affairs of Minnesota, assure me that there has not been a time since the flush 
period of 1857, when half the field for safe and profitable investments of capital 
was occupied. Until the last year this want has been a source of great incon- 
venience and delay to the enterprise of the State ; but now that we have entered 
upon a career of solid progress, and our population rapidly increasing, we find 



38 MINNESOTA : 

capitalists seeking investments here for their money, and giving new life and vigor 
to many usefid enterprises that else would have lingered and languished. 

Our reputation as a healthy country brings many invalids here, who come to 
regain their health, and do not wish to settle down permanently, or engage in 
busmess until they have tested the climate. They do not want to be idle, or 
desire to make expenses while here, and therefore many seek positions as teach- 
ers, clerks, kc. The consequence is here, as indeed everywhere, these positions 
are always crowded. Many young men in good health come expecting employ- 
ment of this character, and are disappointed. They then wish themselves back, 
or wish they had learned a good trade, or understood and inclined to farm life. 
They see around them heremen prosperous and contented on farms ; some mak- 
ing fortunes, and but little exposed to the vicissitudes attending many other pur- 
suits ; while our merchants and professional men do reasonably well, it is an un- 
deniable fact that our farmers are more uniformly successful than any other class. 
Indeed, the portion of farm work now done by machinery, leaves but little that 
is irksome or forbidding in the life of a farmer So different is the business now 
from what it used to be, and so light is the work of a farmer here, as compared 
with the East, that it is not surprising so many are disposed to engage in 
the business. A vocation at once so honorable and independent will each j-ear 
commend itself more and more to sensible men, and instead of rearing their sons 
to the uncertainties of the professions and mercantile life, they will devote them 
to work that is blessed, because it makes two blades of grass grow where only 
one grew before — bringing wealth out of the earth, enriching and ennobling 
themselves, and adding to the material wealth of the country. 

TIME TO COME — WAY TO GET HERE — PRICE OF LAND SEASON FOR OPENING FARMS 

COST OF SAME PRICE OF LUMBER — MECHANICS' WAGES FARM HELP — HOTELS 

COST OF LIVING — PRICE OF STOCK, &C., <SrC. 

Invalids come at all seasons, and this is, perhaps, right ; yet the months of 
March and April generally furnish more disagreeable weather than the other ten 
months of the year. 

Those who intend to take farms that are opened and in use, should be here in 
time to do fall plowing, which is done in the months of October and November. 
Those who intend to open farms should be here in the spring, so as to have their 
breaking done before the first of August. Ground broken after that time had 
far better not have been touched. Crops are put in from the first of April to 
the 10th of June, and gathered in the months of August and September. 

Government laud can be had with laud warrants or money, at from $1.00 to 
$1.25 per acre, and in portions of the State at $2.50. Good wild land can be 
had from second hands at from $1.00 to $15.00 per acre, according to the dis- 
tance from good trading towns, steamboat landings, and railroads. The differ- 
ent Laud Grant Railroads own immense quantities, located in odd sections, along 
the line of their roads, and sell at from $2.00 to $8.00 per acre, on long time 
and at reasonable rates of interest. The prices of good farms must be estimated 
by the reader from these figures, and the prices of materials and labor herewith 
furnished. It should be understood that free homesteads under the act of Con- 
gress are not found within sight of cities, affording good land, haj-, wood and 
water, but must be looked for in the more remote and less thickly settled districts. 

In giving the following estimates, some allowance should be made for the fact 
that prices have not yet entirely receded from those of war times, but are getting 
down gradually to a reasonable figure. The way to get to Minnesota and 
through the State will be found at the end of this pamphlet on the pages devot- 
ed to " Railroads. Steamboats and Stages." All our railroads are now in the 
hands of active men, who are pushing them forward as rapidly as possible. 
Those preferring to travel by river can have first-class side-wheel steamers, daily, 
from any point on the Mississippi River from St. Louis to St. Paul, and regu- 
larly to Stillwater and 'I'aylor's Falls. Fare from St. Louis to St. Paul fourteen 
to twenty dollars ; from Milwaukee about !tSl 6 ; Chicago about $20. 

Having given the prices of land, I will give e.stimates for putting it to use. 
To break prairie land costs from $2 .50 to $4.00 per acre ; timber laud of course 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 39 

much higher. Lnraber costs from $14.00 to l$17.00 per thousand feet for fencing, 
according to the distance from the mills. Posts are made of cedar, tamrack, oak, 
pine and locust. Machinery does a large part of the farm work. We have 
gang-plows, seed sow(ts, cultivators, reapers and harvesters, mowers, threshers 
by horse power and steam. Men engage exclusively in these branches — have 
their own machinery, and going from farm to farm, gathering a man's crop and 
putting it in market in a few days. Hired men are procured with but little 
trouble for farm work, and at prices ranging from .$16 to SBO per month ; hi-ed 
girls at from $7 to $10. The expense of building houses must be gathered by 
the reader from the price of lumber and mechanics' wages. Lumber for dwell- 
ings costs from $15 to $22 per thousand, and carpenters get from $2.00 to $3.50 
per day ; brick and stone masons from $2.00 to $4.00 per day. Large barns 
are not required — or, at least, are seldom found. When the threshing is done in 
the fall, the straw is thrown upon the timbers con.structed with " crotch and 
rider," which affords a warm and secure shelter for stock in all weather. Farm 
horses here are worth from ($80 to .$180 ; cows from $30 to $45. Abundance 
of good hay grows wild on our marshes and meadows, is considered equal to 
the Kentucky blue grass, and by many superior to clover and timothy. The ex- 
pense of living here can be estimated by the prices charged for board at hotels 
and private boarding houses. The prices range from $1.00 to $3.00 per day at 
hotels, and from l$l.00 to $2.00 at private boarding houses. These are the 
prices in the larger cities of the State, but good accommodations are procured 
in thrifty towns, and on the shores of attractive lakes, at more moderate prices. 
The quality of the fare and the charges are to some extent under the control of 
the travelling public. Where a man feeds low and charges high, it should be 
your pleasure, as it certainly is you duty, to exercise the "traveller's privilege," 
and speak ovt ; — let the fact be known as you pass around. It is the only cor- 
rective of this abuse — the only protection against the most disagreeable imposi- 
tion known among men. Th-^ public pay their nr.oney and take their choice. If 
they commend what is commendable, and censure the opposite, exercising a 
cheerful discrimination, it will work a cure. The man who can keep a hotel 
knows that an appeal to the stomach and the pocket never bailed in a verdict ! 
I am the more particular on this point, because of the great interests of the State 
in this matter. The man who first visits a place in bad weather, gets to a mean 
hotel, is badly fed and over charged, will carry the disagreeable impressions of 
that place to his dying day. 



PLUSH TIMES IN MINNESOTA. 

In contrasting the Minnesota of 18G9 with the past, it may not be unprofit- 
able to recur for a moment to the " flush times" of 1857. The wonderful specu- 
lative fever that then pervaded the West found its culmination in Min- 
nesota. Young, attractive, with domain enough for an empire, it was not stranze 
that thousands came here from th*^ older States, and other countries, in search of 
fame and fortune. In the multitudes who came here in those excited and ex- 
citing times, were many of the best men of the localities from which they came, 
and, on an average, perhaps as good a class of people as ever flocked to a new 
country. 

There however seemed this difference between the tide that poured into ^lin- 
nesota. and that which drifted to the gold fields of the Pacific coast: While the 
latter, as a rule, expected to get wealth even it tiiey had to dig for it, the former 
sepmed to think they could readily obtain it here, and without any special wear 
and tear of muscle. The result was, a population made up maiulv of specula- 
tors ; — nobody to work, nobody to developo the resources of the Territory ; all 
these rich, broad acres — all these immense water-powers — all our great wilderness 
of lumber, as undisturbed as when the Indians controlled them. Cities and 
towns built, with tio productive country or agricultural community around to 
support them, filN.'d with men who came here, some with money and some with- 



40 MINNESOTA. 

out, but all engaged iu the all-absorbiug whirl of wild speiiulation, dealing ia 
corner lots and sections of moonshine, with money at from three to ten per cent 
a mouth — raising nothing from the earth — living upon the flour and meat, and 
even vegetables, brought up the river on the boats that carried them here ! 

Such was the condition of Vlinuesota when overtaken by the memorable finan- 
cial crash of 1S57. The reader need not be told that the shriuliage of values 
was — terrific ! 

There are certain dangerous diseases that attack in childhood, from which, if 
the jjatient recovers, he can safely claim immunity henceforth. Ours was of that 
sort, and so well defined as to not mistake its type. From that time we date our 
rise and solid growth, and while to-day we look back with amazement upon those 
times, we recall men of that period to whom we are indebted for much of our 
present prosperity. 

MEN^NESOTA IN 1869. 

The limits of this pamphlet have not afforded room for a detail of the difficul- 
ties and trials attending the early career of this State — were they recounted 
here in view of our present status, it would seem that we have indeed, like the 
fabled spectre ship, " sailed the faster in the very teeth of the wind." 

Although the price to which our great staple, wheat, fell about the close of 
our immense harvest, reduced our receipts greatly, yet all things considered, the 
year 18(38 was in the aggregate the best Minnesota has ever known. More men 
have taken to the plough ; there have been more acres of land broken ; more grain 
produced ; more minerals developed ; more lumber made ; more houses built ; 
more manufactories started ; more railroads constructed ; more boats employed ; 
more freight carried ; more people added to the State, than in any year of its 
history. This has not been done under any sudden influence of flush times and 
wild speculative mania, such as all new western States must have, but the result 
of causes naturally producing these results — and that through a year not generally 
regarded as a prosperous one, or in any respect calculated to give unusual stim- 
ulus to progress. 

We have now entered upon 1869 with a prospect for the future which the 
most favored periods of the past bear no comparison. Minnesotians all seem 
full of confidence iu the future of this State, and there are abundant reasons for 
the faith that is in them. Every city, town and district shows life and progress 
Our farmers — that strong arm of our destiny— all cheerful and thrifty, with their 
numbers rapidly increasing ; our manufactories multiplying ; our railroads on a 
sound basis, and stretching to every portion of the State ; immigration greatly 
on the increase ; eastern capital seeking investments in our midst ; our reputa- 
tion established as a Sanitarium for the world ! 

WINTER IN MINNESOTA. 

There is a popular opinion abroad that Minnesota is a delightful country to 
" summer in," but our winters are not so attractive. Now, of those who have 
tried summer and winter here, it is a question which season the majority piefer. 
I spent a large part of my life in Alabama, am familiar with the winters of the 
South, New Orleans, etc., and am free to say that for real enjoyment I would not 
exchange winter in Minnesota for any country I ever saw. The season for using ■ 
our rivers for boating ends about the last of November, and it is the custom to 
wind up with the Annual December Steamboat Excursion at St. Paul, which 
takes place the first day of December. Last mouth witnessed the fourth con- 
secutive annual observance of this delightful custom. The river closes soon 
after and is then devoted to other uses. Skating Rinks, Trotting Parks, &c., 
are regularly laid out on the ice, to which old and young, grave and gay, repair 
daily and nightly to sleigh ride, skate, dance, masquerade, &c. It is the season 
of the year, by general consent, given up to enjoyment and every one seems re- 
solved to have his share. Those who have never seen the graceful movements 
of a hundred ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, together on skates have miss- 
ed a sight worth seeing. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 



41 



But tho J ouiig folks liave a broader aud more varied field than our lakes and 
rivers afi'ord — on every bill side, from early day until late night, are scores and 
Lutdreds of boys and jjirls with sleds, cutters, &c., coasting down with a velocity 
that seems frightful. 'J'he joyous shouts and laughter of these merry groups as 
they ring cheerily out in the clear, crisp air tell of true enjoyment. Strangers are 
struck with wonder aud delight at the extent to which these enjoyments are carried 
here. I have seen them stop for hoiu\s to look at the coasters, whiln their eyes 
seemed to say, " I wish 1 were a boy again !" A little six year older came in the 
other day from the hill side, with cheeks all aglow, and exclaimed, " Pa, what 
do the poor little boys in the South do where they have no snow ?"' Where, in 
all the world, is there so much to miiko childhood happy as here in Minnesota ? 
We rejoice at this, for is it not our duty to throw as much sun shine into their 
young hearts as possible, that it may linger there to light and cheer mid the 
gloom and trials of after years ! 

We are now at the first of February, 1869, and have not had over six or 
eight inches snow on the gi-ound at one time this winter, yet we have had sleigh- 
ing since the 6th of December and during all this time the weather has been 
clear, calm, bright and pleasant, men every where working out of doors building 
houses, bridges, railroads, kc, [except brick or stone walls,] aud strangers from 
the East and South spending the winter here will testify that they never before 
experienced such delightful weather as they find in Minnesota ! 



STATE OFFICERS. 



WILLIAM R. MARSHALL, 
THDMAS H. ARMSTRONG, 
HENRY C. ROGERS, 
CHARLES MclLRATH, 
EMIL MUNCH, 
F. R. E. CORNELL, 



Governor. 

Lieutenant Governor. 
Secretary of State. 
Auditor. 
Treasurer, 
Attorney General. 



A COMPLETE LIST OF MINN-fiSOTA NEWSPAPERS. 



WHERE PDBLISHED 

Preeborn County Standard, Albert Lea 



Alexandria Post, 

Union, 

Press, 

Mower County Register, 

Transcript, 

Free Press, 

South West, 

■Journal, 

Democriit, 

Valley Herald, 

Cent'al lii-publican. 

Democrat, 

Atlas, 

Telegraph, 

Meeker County News, 

Herald, 

Union, 

Gazette, 

Republican, 

Herald, 

Leader, 

Courier, 

Record, 

Union, 

Express, 

Minnesota Teacher, 

Tribune, daily, 

Independent, 

Farmers Union, 

Minnesot I i'upil, 

NorlishKolkblad, 

Post, 

Knterprise, • 



Alexandria. 
Anoka. 

Austin. 

Brownsville 

Blue Earth City 

Caledonia. 

Chattield. 

Chaska. 

Faribault- 

F.iirmount. 
Farmington. 
Forest City. 
Garden City. 
Haslinga. 

Kasson. 
Lanesboro. 
Lake City. 
L>j Sueur. 
Mankato. 

Mantorville. 

Minneapolis 



New Ulm. 
Northfleld. 



WHERE PUBLISHED. 

Journal, Owatonna. , 

Republican, Preston. 

Palladium, Pine Island. 
Goodhue County Republican, Red Wing. 
Argus, " 

Araerika, Rochester. 
Post, " f 

Nordish Volkblad, " 

Federal Union, " 

Southern Minnesotian, 
Argus, 



Republican, 

Herald, 

Journal, 

Times, 

Press, daily. 

Pioneer, daily. 

Dispatch, daily, 

StaatH Zeitung, 

Volksblatt, 

Minnesota Monthly, 

N. W. Chronicle, 

School Visitor, 

Wanderer, 

Tribune, 

Adverti89r, 

Herald, 

Sentinel, 

Reporter, 

Herald, 

News, 

P'ree Homestead, 

Republican, daily, 

Folkvenne, 



Rushford. 
Shakopee, 
Stillwater. 
Sauk Centre. 
St. Cloud. 



St. Paul. 



St. Peter. 

St. Charles. 
Sauk Rapids. 
Taylor's FalU. 
WabashaiV. 
Waseca. 
Winnebago Cty 
Winona. 



WINONA & ST. PETER RAILROAD 



GREAT INDUCEMENTS TO SETTLERS. 

400,000 ACRES of SUPERIOR FARMINd LANDS FOR SALE 



The Winona & St. Peter Eailroad extends from "Winona, on the Mississippi 
Kiver, westerly, via St. Peter, across the fertile Valley of the 
Minnesota River, and through the great 

Wheat-Producing' District of ITIiniiesota, 

To the western boundary of the State. 

The Railroad, now in operation for a distance of 105 miles from 
Winona, will be extended to the Minnesota River during the present year, 
and with an Eastern connectiou, which will be in operation earl}' the pres- 
ent season, will form a part of the great through route from the East to the 
Northwest. 

The Lands offered for sale by this Company are within twenty miles 
on each side of the road, a large portion of Avhich being located in the most 
densely populated district of the State, have all the advantages of the older 
States in regard to markets, schools, churches, &c., &c. 

SPECIAL IVOTICE. 

150,000 ACRES OF THESE LANDS, 

In the Counties of Nicollet, Sibley, Redwood, and Cottonwood, 

Are no^v*^ being- bi-oug'lit into Mlai'ket, 

And to which the attention of those seeking homes in the West is especially 
invited. The district of country in which these Lands are situated, for 
Agricultural purposes or Stock Raising, cannot be excelled in the North- 
west. The Railroad Company will sell a portion of these Lands, in 

Tracts not exceeding 160 Acres each, at Five Dollars per Acre, 

on the following liberal terms, viz : 

Parties purchasing to Pay Interest on Purchase Money, for first Three 
Years, at the rate of Seven per cent, per Annum; and principal, with 
Interest at same rate, payable in Four Annual Payments thereafter. 

No Lauds will be sold to any but actual settlers, -for occupancy. 

Any desired information, together with pamphlets relating to the lands, 
climate and production of the State, will be furnished on application 'being- 
made to 

H. W. LAMBERTON, 

Land Commissioner, Winona & St. Peter R. R- 
WINDNA, MINN, 



1869. 1869. 

MlliWAUKiiH m SAINT PAUL RAILWAY, 

EMBRACENG THE PRINCIPAL RAILWAY LINES IN 

WISCONSIN, MINNESOTA, AND NORTHERN IOWA, viz: 

Milwaukee to St. Paul and Minneapolis, 408 Miles. 

Milwaukee to La Crosse, 1^^ 

Milwaukee to Portage City, 95 

Miltou to Monroe, 42 

Watertown to Sun Prairie, 26 

Horicou to Berlin and Winneconne 58 

Total,.-.- 825 " 

Alex. Mitchell, President. Russell Sage, Yice President. S. S. Merrill, 
General Manager. J. P. Whaling, Auditor. A. Cary, Sec. and Treas. 0. E. 
Britt, Gen. Freight Agent. A. V. H. Carpenter. Geu. Pass. Agent. Milwau- 
kee, Wis. J. VV. Prince, Gen. Eastern Agent, No. 2 Astor House, New York. 

TWO THROUGH EXPRESS TRAINS FBOM 

MILWAUKEE to 3imNEAP0LIS and SAINT PAXm 

Daily [except Sundays.] 

MAGNIFICENT PALACE CARS ON DAY TRAINS. 

Splendid new Sleeping Oars on Night Trains^ vnth a full 
nighfs rest via Milwauk>:e. 

PURCHASE TICKETS VIA "MILWAUKEE." 

This is the only All Rail Route to Minneapolis and Saint Paul. 

^- Note. — Passengers via Milwaukee have ample time for meals at Fox's 
new Depot Hotel at that place — the best Railway Kating-llouse in the country. 

The Dovsman House at Prairie du Chiea affords ample facilities for accom- 
modation of travelers, and in the best style. 

Baggage Checked Through only by. this Route, and via Milwaukee alone. 

^^- The same advantages apply to passengers going East from Minnesota, 
Northern Iowa and Wisconsin, by this route. 

^S" Passengers for any point in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Northern 
Iowa, by purchasing Tickets via Milwaukee secure the following advantages, 
viz : the most direct route, and the only one by which connections are sure : 
No Night changes of cars : Clean Coaches, with ample accommodations, are 
always provided at Milwaukee. Palace Sleeping Cars are attached to night 
trains from Milwaukee alone, which insures a full night's rest — facilities not 
attainable by any other route. This is the only route by which baggage is 
checked through to St. Paul, Minneapolis, or Owatonna. 

Special Noticc I — Passengers destined for any place in Wisconsin, Minne- 
sota, or Northern Iowa, either on or off the Lines of this Company, who can 
not procure through tickets to destination should purchase their tickets to Mil- 
waukee, as this is the great distributing point for these States, and by so doing 
they avoid the liability of getting out of their direct way. 

j^- During the Spring, Summer and Fall, emigrants for St. Paul, Minne- 
apolis and intermediate points, via Prairie du Cliien, ivill go through from 
MILWAUKEE ivithout change of cars. 



Minnesota Stage Company. 

This Companj^ run stages in connection with all the Rail- 
roads and over the principal thoroughfares in the State. 

FROM WASECA, 

Terminus of the Winona and St. Peter Railroad, to Wilton, 
Winnebago Agency, Mankato, New Ulm, and Redwood Falls. 

FROM MANKATO, 

Terminus of the Saint Paul and Sioux City Railroad, to 
Garden City, Winnebago Cit}', and Blue Earth City. 

FROM SAINT PETER 
To New Ulm and Fort Ridgely. 

FROM SAINT CLOUD, 

Terminus of the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad, to Saint 
Jo, Cold Spring, Sauk Centre, Alexandria, and Fort Aber- 
crombie. Also, to Little Falls, Fort Ripley, and Crow Wing. 

FROM LANE3BORO, 

Terminus of the Southern Minnesota Railroad, to Preston, 
Spring Valley, and Austin. 

FROM WINONA, 

To Fountain City, Wis., Wamandee Valley, Gilmanton, and 
Eau Claire. 

FROM WYOMING, 

Terminus of the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad, 
to Sunrise, Chengwatana, and Superior; to Stillwater, Marine 
and Taylor's Falls. Also, to Hudson, Wis. 

FROM SAINT PAUL 

To Stillwater, Marine and Taylor's Falls. Also, to Hudson, 
Wis. 

BLAKELEY & CARPENTER, 
St. Paul, 1869. Proprietors. 



1869. THE 1869. 

SOUTHERN MINNESOTA 

KAIL ROAD COMPANY. 



T. B. STODDARD, _ . - - President, 

CLARK W. THOMPSON, - General Manager, 

LUKE MILLER, ... - Treasurer, 

C. G. WYCKOFF, - - - Secretary, 

M. CONANT, ... Land Commissioner, 



This road starts at LaCrescent, on Mississippi River, and is 
now completed to Lanesboro, Fillmore County, fifty miles, 
and work on it will be pushed forward vigorously towards its 
terminus, at Great Bend, of the Missouri River. 

Being a Land Grand Road, this Company is endowed with 
a wealth of land not surpassed by any Road in the State. 
Passing, as it does, through the wealthy and populous counties 
of Houston, Fillmore, Mower, Freeborn, Faribault, Martin, 
and Brown, it traverses the rich valley of Root river, thence 
through a region of unsurpassed fertility, to the western line 
of the State, and Great Bend of the Missouri. 

The Company now offer for sale 

150,000 ACRES OF LAND 

AT FROM 

i^3 to ^S per -A-cre, 

UPON LONG TIME, AT REASONABLE INTEREST. 

Much of this land is of excellent qualit}^ — some prairie and 
some well wooded — all of it in the southern part of the State, 
a region traversed by never-failing streams of pure water, — in 
the midst of settled neighborhoods and districts, rapidly filling 
up with an active and iutelligent population. The fine water 
power of Root river is being developed, and will add greatly 
to the wealth, population, and importance of this portion of 
the State. 



Lake Superior and Mississippi 

RAILROAD. 



The line of this road is from St. Paul, the head of navigatioa ou the Missis- 
■sippi river, to the head of Lake Superior, a distance of 140 miles. It c onnecta 
at St. Paul, with each of the loQg lines of railroad traversing the vast and fer- 
tile regions of Minnesota, in all directions, and converging at St. Paul. 

It connects the commerce and business of the Mississippi and Minnesota 
rivers, the California Central Railroad, and the Northern Pacific Railroad, with 
Lake Superior and the commercial system of the great lakes, and makes the 
outlet or commercial track to the lakes, over which must pass the commerce of 
a region of country, second to none on the American continent in capacity for 
production. 

The land grant made by the government of ihe United States and by the 
State of Minnesota, in aid of the construction of this road, is the largest in 
quantity and most valuable in kind ever made in aid of any railway in either of 
the American States. 

This grant amounts to seventeen square miles or sections [10,880 acres] of 
land for each mile of the road, and in the aggregate to ONE MILLION SIX 
HUNDRED AND THIRTY- TWO THOUSAND ACRES OF LAND. 

These lands are for the most part well timbered with pine, butternut, white oak, 
sugar maple and other valuable tiinljer, and are perhaps better adapted to the 
raising of stock, winter wheat, corn, oats, and most kinds of agricultural pro- 
ducts, than any equal quantity of land in the Northwest 

These lauds are well watered with running streams and innumerable lakes, 
and within the|limits of the land belonging to the Company, there is an abun- 
dance of water-power for manufacturing purposes. 

A glance at the map, and an intelligent comprehension of the course of trade, 
and way to the markets of the Eastern cities and to Europe, for the products of 
this section of the Northwest, will at once satisfy any one who examines the 
question, that the lands of this Company, by reason of the low freights at 
which their products reach market, have a value — independent of that which 
arises from their superior quality — which can hardly be over-estimated. 

Twenty cents saved in sending a bushel of wheat to market, adds four 
dollars to the yearly product of an acre of wheat land, and what is true of 
this will apply to all other articles of farm produce transported to market, 
and demonstrates that the value of lands depends largely on the price at 
which their products can be carried to market. 

THE LANDS OF THIS COMPANY 

ARE NOW OFFERED lO 

IMIVIIGRANTS AND SETTLERS 

At the most favorable rates, as to time and terms of payment. 

W. L. BANNING, 

President, Saint Paul, Minnesota. 



1869. THE 1869. 

North- Western Union Packet Co. 

OR WHITE COLLAR LINE. 



The splendid steamers of this Company will run during the 
season of navigation, between St. Paul and St. Louis, forming 
a daily line, and making close connections at St. Louis with 
the Mississippi and Xew Orleans Packet Campanies. 

DuNLEiTH, with trains of Illinois Central R. R. 

Dubuque, " Dubuque & Sioux City R. R 

Pr. du Chien & jj ( Milwaukee & Prairie du Chieu & 

McGregor, I McGregor W. Railways. 

LaCrosse, " Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. 

Winona, *' AVinona & St. Peter Railway. 

C St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. 

St. 'Paul, " j St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad. 

^ St. Paul & Milwaukee Railroad. 
fc ■ , 

These steamers are unsurpassed by any on the Upper Mis- 
sissippi, for speed, s^Cety and comfort. They are elegantly 
fitted for the accommc lation of passengers, and are commanded 
by experienced Captains. 

The traveler or tuirist on this route sees the many young 
cities and villages th it have grown up, as if by magic, along 
the shores of the Misnssippi river, from St. Louis to St. Paul, 
in the States of Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, & Min- 
nesota. Among whi' ii, in Minnesota, are La Crescent, Winona, 
Wabashaw, Lake City, Red Wing, Prescott, Hastings, &c. 
He also passes thro.-i'h Lake Pepin, a beautiful sheet of water, 
thirty miles in len^h, embellished on either side with grand 
and interesting see:, cry. Indeed, all along the river are found 
spectacles of a ver\- romantic and picturesque character, un- 
equalled in the ii w world, if indeed in the old. The art- 
embellished shoru- of the Hudson do not compare with the 
grand, wild, uatuiil scenery, with which nature has festooned 
the shores oi the L^'ather of ^Vaters in Mimiesota ; and culti- 
vated travelers froin abroad have aijain and ajzain asserted, that 
there is nothing iu the old world to equal it — not even in Italy, 
Switzerland, or the Rhine, — mid the vine-clad hills of old 
France ! 

Passengers can purchase through tickets to all principal 
points East and South, at the ofiices of the Company. West- 
ward bound passengers can also procure tickets over this route, 
at all Eastern Railroad otfices. 

W. F. DAVIDSOX, President. 
St. Paul, Minnesota — OlJice cor. Third and Jackson Sts. 



TH£ FIKST UIVISIO^ OF THE 

St. Paul & Pacific E. E. Company* 

1869. LAND DEPARTMENT. 1869. 
FARMS AND HOS^ES BN MmNESOTA. 



THIS COMPANY NOW OFFERS FOR SALE 

^00,000 .A^CR^ES OF Lj^IVD, 

Located along their two Railroad Lines, viz : from St. Paul, via St. Anthony^ 

Anoka, St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids to Watab, and from St. Anthony, 

via Minneapolis, Wayzetta, Crow River, Waverly and Forest 

City to the Western Boundary of the State, 



FOR ORAI^ OnOli^'llVO, 

The lands in the counties of Hennepin, Wright, Stearns, Benton and 
Meeker, present unsurpassed advantages. Farmers from the Easterly States 
are selecting these lands in preference over all others for the purpose of 
raising wheat, the great staple article of Western commerce. Those coun- 
ties also contain an abundance of tine hardwood timber, which is in great 
demand for various purposes, and finds a ready market along the Railroads,, 
and pays not only for the clearing of the land, but for the land itself. 

FOR STOCK RAI!««iII¥G, ^ 

The counties of Anoka, Isanti and Sherburne, are particularly well adapted. 
The soil is a rich, sandy loam, partly prairie, brush and light timber, some- 
what rolling, with innumerable fresh water lakes, and traversed by fine 
running streams, which are bordered by an abundance of good meadow 
lands, affording an unlimited supply of grass and hay. They are easy ot 
access to the mines on Lake Superior, and the great Pineries of the northern 
part of the State, which aflbrds the best and principal markets for cattle in 
the country. In connection with Stock Raising, it is necessary to call 
attention to the fact that the Dairy Business is as yet in its infancy, which 
is shown by the high prices of butter and cheese, and the large importations 
of those articles every season from the Eastern States. 

^VOOI. RAI§i:WO 

Is also becoming very profitable in Minnesota, and, besides the lands in the 
counties of Anoka, Isanti and Sherburne, described above, the prairie lands 
in the counties of Meeker, Kandiyohi and Monongalia, are particularly 
sought after for that purpose. 

TERMS OF PAYMEllTT: 

These lands are offered in tracts of 40, 80, and 160 acres and upwards, at 
prices varying from $5 to $10 per acre, (with some few tracts at higher fig- 
ures) rated according to the quality and nearness to the Railroad. They 
are sold for cash or on long credit (ten years if desired) with 7 per cent, 
annual interest, thus enabling persons of small means to acquire, on easy 
terms, a home in a healthy and productive region. Those who have already 
settled along the lines of these Railroads have found their lands increase in 
value at the rate of fifty per cent, per annum. 

These lands have been reserved from sale since 1857 ; they are jn the 
midst of considerable settlements, and convenient to Churches, Schools 
and established roails and markets. 

For further information apply to 

GEORGE L. BECKER, 

Land Commissioner, St. Paul, Minn:. 
HERMANN TROTT, Secretary. 



THE SAINT PAUL PIONEER. 

THEJOLDEST AND BEST NEWSPAPER IN THE STATE. 
A DEMOCRATIC DAILY, TRI-WEEKLY, & WEEKLY JOURNAL. 

As an advortising modium the SAINT PAUL PIONEER is 
uiisurpussoil by any Paper in the Northwest. 

Daily, one year, 810.00. Tki-Weekly, one year, Sti.oo Weekly, one year, $2.00 
" six mo's, 5.01). " six mo's, 3.00 " six mo's, 1.00 

Address, PIONEER PRINTING CO., St. Paul, Minnesota. 



XxjIx4 oAINT PAUIji FxvxaoS. 

DAILY, TRI-WEEKLY AND WEEKLY. 

THE LEADING REPUBLICAN PAPER OF THE STATE. 

Advertisers are assured that its Total Circulation is Three-Fold 

that of any otlier Paptr published in Minnesota. 

Especial attention paid to Statistics of the Development and Growth of the State. 

DAILY, one vear, - $10.00; Three months, ■ S2.50 

TRI-WEEIvLY, one year, 0.00; " - 150 

The "Weekly Press" is the Largest Paper published west of Chicago— $2.00 per year. 
Address, PRESS PRINTING CO., St. Paul, Minn. 

THE SAINT PAUL DISPATCH. 

-A. Itepublicaii iNewsiiaper. 

PUBLISHED DAILY, TRI-WEEKLY AND WEEKLY. 

DAILY, per month, 70 cts. ; per quarter, $2.00; per year, $8.00. 
TRI-WEEKLY, per year, $4.00. 
WEEKLY, per year, S1.50. Clubs of live or over, to one address, per year, $1.00. 

RAMALET, HALL & CO. 

ALSO 

STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS, 

Minnesota Street, between Third and Fourth, St. Paul, Minn. 

THE MINNESOTA MONTHLY 

And NORTHWESTERN 3IAGAZ1NE, 

Edited by D. A. ROBERTSON, of St. Paul. 

Contains not less than thirty-two pages of solid reading matter, printed on fine 
book paper, stitclied and cut, with neat paper cover, at $2 per annum. 

This publication is devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, Domestic Economy, 
Mechanical and Manufacturing Industry, and the Resources, Settlement, Development, 
Hygiene. Climatology, and Statistics of Minnesota and the Northwest, witli various 
scientific, local, and general knowledge, for all classes of readers. 

Address, "MINNESOTA MONTHLY," St. Paul, Minn. 

The Advertising Department is in charge of J, B. Bell, Newspaper Adver- 
tising Agent, St. Paul, Minneseta. 



THE NORTH-WESTERN CHRONICLE. 

REPRESENTATIVE CATHOLIC JOURNAL IN THE NORTHWEST. 

Published with the approval of Rt. Rev. Bishop of St. Paul. 
By JOHN C. DEVEREUX, 
Catholic Block, Third Street, St. Paul, Minn. 



sr. I'ACL PHKSS. 



186a. THE 1869_ 

ST. PAUL & SIOUX CITY 

(LATE MINNESOTA VALLEY) 

RAIL ROAD COMPANY. 

From ST. PAUL, via Mankato, to SIOUX CITY. 

Completed to MANKATO, 86 Miles. 



A Land Grant of 1,200,000 Acres. 



The Company noAV offer for Sale and Settlement, 

^^nnnn APT^TT*^ °^ their Lands, comprising some of 
UtiUjUUU AUXlIjO theveryfinest and most productive 
farming land in tlie West, at prices from So to SlO per acre. 

These lands were odd sections, withdrawn from sale in 1857, the 
even sections being mostly sold to actual settlers. The country is 
consequently well settled and improved, with roads, school houses, 
churches, and numerous towns and villages. 

The lands consist of both timber and prairie, with rich soil and 
finely watered, with a climate superior to that of any of the Western 
States. 

The lands now offered are situate in the counties of Dakota, Hen- 
nepin, ('arver, Scott, Sibley, fieSueur, McLeod, Nicollet, Blue 
Earth, Brown, Watonwan, Martin and Cottonwood. 

GENERAL TERMS OF SALE: 

One-tenth cash, balance in five annual jiayments, with interest at 
the rate of seven percent, per annum, or a discount of ten per cent, 
on nine-tenths of purchase money for cash sales. 

All applications for the purchase of lands, or any information re- 
garding them may be addressed to the 

" LAND DEPARTMENT," 
St. Paul & Sioux|_City Railroad Company, St. Paul. 



OFFICERS OF THE COMPANY: 

E. F. Dhakk, President, I (J. A. Hahjilton, Sccrctari/, 

J. L. Mkkkiam, Vice PresH. \ H. Thompson, Trcaavrcr. 

Saint Paui^, Minnesota. 



